* Forwarded (from: CLIB-SIGTYR) by Lazarus Long using timEd 1.01.
* Originally from Lazarus Long (350:2/100.1) to All.
* Original dated: Nov 09 '95, 01:46
Cont. from part 2
This Grand Jury examined pre-existing investigations of suspected child abuse 
and cites this example.
     "Of particular interest is the information the Jury received
      about the Little Rascals pre-school case in North Carolina.
      Eighty-five percent of the percent of the children received
      therapy with three therapists in the town; all of these children
      eventually reported satanic abuse. Fifteen percent of the
      children were treated by different therapists in a neighboring
      city; none of the children reported abuse of any kind after the
      same period of time in therapy."(2)
This would tend to bear out the growing awareness that it is the investigator 
who may either unwittingly or purposely be the causal factor in determining 
whether the child reports accurately.
From other cases that were investigated by the Grand Jury...
"*  children said that they were taken during the daytime into a back room of 
a grocery store and abused. The investigator found an open archway between 
the store and the back room; any staff and customers in the store would have 
seen the abuse in progress
*  children reported being sodomized with an axe handle, yet no indication of 
rectal damage was found
*  children reported being taken in space ships into outer space and abused 
there
*  children reported being taken on a boat and abused; some trained sharks 
danced around the boat
*  children reported a staff member dressing up as a clown and robbing the 
town's jewelry store; no such crime ever happened
*  a child reported being abused with a vibrator which had a yellow body and 
blue ends. No such vibrator was ever found. But a search of suspected 
perpetrators' home had turned up a vibrator which had been shown on 
television. Due to the TV lighting, the uniformly flesh coloured vibrator 
appeared to have a yellow body and blue ends.
*  children reported being taken through long underground tunnels from the 
basement of the McMartin day care centre to a nearby building. Police 
conducted ultrasound measurements and proved that the tunnels never 
existed."(2)
All these supposed cases of massive sexual abuse cases have been widely 
reported, creating a false image to the general public that leads many to 
believe that private day care is unsafe. This raises the serious question of 
whether ideology is the driving force behind the legal persecution of private 
day care providers. The majority of Social Workers can safely be said to be 
politically left-leaning and therefore could reasonably be expected to be in 
favour of government funded and operated Day Care.
"As a result, child abuse panics in day care centres, baby sitting services, 
and churches continue. Hundreds of children end up with memories of horrible 
abuse, and are will be affected by these memories forever. Dozens of innocent 
adults are having their lives ruined. At most, they can hope to be found 
not-guilty. However, they will never be found innocent in the eyes of the 
public."(2)
Therefore I would conclude that not only an inquiry into the Martensville 
case be held, but it be given the mandate to investigate the entire question 
of how evidence is obtained and the validity of the methods used. It should 
also be tasked with investigating ways of of ensuring that these witchhunts 
do not occur. I will conclude this with a quote from lawyer Alan Gold on how 
witchhunts like these become possible.
        "....Another one is child abuse. Somehow the real problem of child
        abuse, and no-one denies there is a real problem, has been
        corrupted into the child abuse movement where it has become the
        only problem, as if homeless people didn't exist, and all the other
        evil things in the world didn't exist. It's taken on a sort of
        quality, that it is the single explanation for everything in the
        world. And so I think that the real problem of child abuse today,
        is that it has mutated into some kind of corrupt version of it. And
        of course, Victimology. The recognition of victims and the real
        sympathy and desire to help has mutated into something we now call
        victimism. Where it's become a recognised social role. In these
        days of high unemployment it's one of the roles for which there are
        still a lot of openings. And far too many people are applying for
        jobs as victims. People say, why would anyone want to be a victim
        if they really are not one. The answer it it satisfies a tremendous
        number of secondary gains."(3)
In the case of children, they are not deliberately and voluntarily assuming 
the victim role... but Alan Gold's theory may help point the way to asking 
the question..Who benefits from these cases? A point to ponder.
Sources.
(1) Book: Jeopardy in the Courtroom: A Scientific Analysis of Children's
    Testimony by Stephen J. Ceci, Ph.D., and Maggie Bruck, Ph.D.,
    Published by the American Psychological Association (Item No. 4318350,
    ISBN: 1-55798-282-1
(2) Report issued by the 1991-92 San Diego County Grand Jury in California
    titled CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE, ASSAULT, AND MOLEST ISSUES.
(3) Transcript of Presentation by Alan Gold, Barrister at Law at the Public
    Consultation on Violence and Abuse Within the Family, June 9,1995 &
    June 10, 1995
Being intelligent is not a felony
But most societies evaluate it
as being at least a misdemeanour
... Political Correctness: Step 1 towards Orwell's "1984."
--- timEd 1.01
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