Rascals case in brief
In the beginning, in 1989, more than 90 children at the Little Rascals Day Care Center in Edenton, North Carolina, accused a total of 20 adults with 429 instances of sexual abuse over a three-year period. It may have all begun with one parent’s complaint about punishment given her child.
Among the alleged perpetrators: the sheriff and mayor. But prosecutors would charge only Robin Byrum, Darlene Harris, Elizabeth “Betsy” Kelly, Robert “Bob” Kelly, Willard Scott Privott, Shelley Stone and Dawn Wilson โ the Edenton 7.
Along with sodomy and beatings, allegations included a baby killed with a handgun, a child being hung upside down from a tree and being set on fire and countless other fantastic incidents involving spaceships, hot air balloons, pirate ships and trained sharks.
By the time prosecutors dropped the last charges in 1997, Little Rascals had become North Carolina’s longest and most costly criminal trial. Prosecutors kept defendants jailed in hopes at least one would turn against their supposed co-conspirators. Remarkably, none did. Another shameful record: Five defendants had to wait longer to face their accusers in court than anyone else in North Carolina history.
Between 1991 and 1997, Ofra Bikel produced three extraordinary episodes on the Little Rascals case for the PBS series “Frontline.” Although “Innocence Lost” did not deter prosecutors, it exposed their tactics and fostered nationwide skepticism and dismay.
With each passing year, the absurdity of the Little Rascals charges has become more obvious. But no admission of error has ever come from prosecutors, police, interviewers or parents. This site is devoted to the issues raised by this case.
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Todayโs random selection from the Little Rascals Day Care archives….
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Todayโs random selection from the Little Rascals Day Care archives….
Skepticism, accountability strengthen criminal justice system
Aug. 5, 2016
โPerhaps the virtue of these true-crime stories isnโt how they affect specific cases (indeed, without new and objective evidence that calls into question criminal convictions, itโs important โ for the sake of the rule of law โ to let decisions stand).
โInstead, series such as โSerialโย could have a positive impact on how ordinary Americans โ the people who sit on juries and elect local prosecutors and judges โ view criminal trials.
โMaybe weโll be more willing to hold those running for local offices accountable for presenting fair cases and working to eliminate bias against the poor or minorities.
โMaybe we’ll be more appropriately skeptical of cases built on witness testimony alone, or question whether investigators used intimidation or unfair interrogation to get inaccurate information from witnesses….โ
โ From โHow the ‘Serial’ podcast is challenging the criminal justice systemโย by Robert Gebelhoff in the Washington Post, July 6 (via the Denver Post)
‘Too many therapists with too little expertise’
Sept. 11, 2013
โWhy did the epidemic of day care hysteria happen just when and where it did? Why in 1982? Why in the United States?…. You canโt have a panic about day care centers unless you have day care centers. These had become a necessary fixture of American life as more mothers entered the work force, families traveled far distances to chase available jobs and there were fewer available grandmothers to help babysit. Undoubtedly parental guilt in turning over parental responsibility played a role.
โAmong therapists, there was concern over previously not taking seriously enough the statements of kids who had actually experienced sexual abuse. There were also too many therapists with too little expertise who were able nonetheless to self-promote and gain authority as fake โexperts.โ This sad episode is the clearest caution imaginable to any therapist feeling the impulse to jump onto a current or future fad bandwagon.โ
โ From โSaving Normal: An Insider’s Revolt Against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Lifeโ by Allen Frances (2013)
Despite Dr. Francesโsย timidity in exposingย the โcomplete bunkโ of multiple personality disorder, his influence across psychiatry is undisputed. But will his words be sufficient to deter the next generation of overreaching therapists from jumping onto the โfad bandwagonโ?
Abuse theory didn’t fit, but what the heck
Sept. 21, 2012
โLos Angeles psychiatrist Roland Summitโs โchild sexual abuse syndrome,โ a theory about incest… argues that if there is evidence of sex abuse and a child denies it, this is only further proof that it happened and a therapist should use any means necessary to help the child talk…. If they later recant, that means they are under family pressure to protect the father and their turnabout is further proof of the crime.
โSo no matter how much coercion was used to get an accusation and no matter if a child later retracted it, once Summitโs incest theory was applied, a charge of abuse became irrefutable. Child protection workers ignored the fact that this logic had little to do with day care. After all, why would children staunchly defend abuse to protect an adult who wasnโt part of the family? And if they had been so brutally attacked at school, why wouldnโt they tell their parents?
โTherapists and investigators came up with all sorts of rationales. One was the teachers threatened them by slaughtering animals and warning that the same thing would happen to their parents if they told….โ
โ From โThe Ritual Sex Abuse Hoaxโ by Debbie Nathan (Village Voice, January 12, 1990)
The โthreatened parentsโ claim reared its head in thisย 1995 letterย from Little Rascals parents:
โ…Many (children are now) old enough to realize that Bob Kelly canโt work his threatened evil to kill their families.โ
‘Overzealous intervenors’ muddy waters in abuse cases
April 13, 2012
โA decade-long investigation by the FBI has found no evidence linking child abuse with organized satanic cults.
โIn a recent report by the agency, Special Agent Kenneth Lanning warns about the influence of โoverzealous intervenors,โ such as therapists and parents, โwho may be affected by their zeal to uncover child sexual abuse, satanic activity, conspiracies.โ Their influence can contaminate a case so much that no one will ever determine what, if anything, really happened….โ
โ From the San Diego Union-Tribune (December 27, 1992)
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