Jan. 18, 2012

“One way or another, justice has failed miserably in the agonizing case of the Little Rascals Day Care…. Last week, eight years after launching an investigation into possible sex abuse at the center, prosecutors announced they were dropping all charges against those who worked at the center.

“That means one of two things:

“(1) Either the defendants originally charged with hundreds of allegations of sex abuse in the 1980s are going to go virtually unpunished for their unspeakable deeds; or

“(2) Those same defendants have been badly treated by an overzealous prosecution team that broke all the rules of fairness in winning flawed guilty verdicts….”

– Editorial in The Charlotte Observer, May 29, 1997

So was that “overzealous prosecution team” simply blindered true believers, or did they realize early on their case was rotten to the core?

Defendant Scott Privott, who pled no contest and was released on probation after spending more than three years in prison, cuts through to the truth when he asks:

“Why did they offer me a plea? You know, if I’m supposed to be the monster that they said I was, if I did these crimes that they said I did, why would they offer me a plea?”

Why indeed, H.P. Williams?… Nancy Lamb?… Bill Hart?

Nov. 16, 2012

“In North America in the 1980s, the moral panic about organized child abuse arose in a context that included the following scares:

• “a moral panic about satanic activity;
• “a scare about missing and murdered children;
• “great public anxiety about incest, redefined as child sexual abuse during the 1970s;
• “a wave of disputed custody cases in which women accused their former husbands of sexually abusing children during court-ordered visitations;
• “self-help books by women claiming to be ‘survivors’ of incest and ritual abuse;
• “therapists’ claims that many of their adult women patients suffered from multiple-personality disorder as a result of severe childhood sexual and ritual abuse.

“Of particular importance were claims that society was in denial about widespread child sexual abuse…. Thus, claims about organized child abuse by caregivers were made in a context of claims about similar issues, and the effect of claims in one panic was to reinforce claims in another.”

– From “Wrongful Conviction and the Moral Panic About Organized Child Abuse: National and International Perspectives” by Randall Grometstein (2005)

Oct. 14, 2015

“(Attorney General Roy Cooper) took over a tangled and controversial investigation of alleged gang rape by Duke University athletes, eventually in 2007 making the extraordinary determination that the crime never happened….”

– From “Cooper formally declares campaign to unseat McCrory” by Craig Jarvis in the News & Observer of Raleigh (Oct. 12)

So far, Attorney General Cooper’s willingness to address crimes that never happened hasn’t extended to the Little Rascals Day Care case.

Dec. 3, 2014

“I was in graduate school in Southern California 30 years ago when the McMartin Preschool scandal erupted, featuring tales of Satanic rituals, underground tunnels, group sex with animals and children, and various acrobatic acts that would challenge Cirque du Soleil, all believed credulously by the media and California prosecutors….

“There was something so literally incredible about (such) ‘Satanic ritual abuse’ cults that serious doubts and questions should have been raised right at the outset.

“Some hard questions are starting to be asked about the latest sequel to the Salem witch trials – the college campus ‘rape culture’ hysteria…. The Rolling Stone story about an especially brutal gang rape at the University of Virginia is provoking considerable backlash– with a few critics suggesting the entire story might be a hoax ….

“It took years for the ‘Satanic child abuse crisis’ to collapse, and several months for the Duke lacrosse scandal to turn around. What is interesting about the UVa story is how quickly it is facing credible challenge….”

– From “The Spirit of Salem Lives On” by Steven Hayward at powerlineblog.com (Dec. 2)