Nov. 26, 2012

Although no mention of the notorious Report of the Ritual Abuse Task Force is to be found on the Los Angeles County Commission for Women web site, I was curious whether an original booklet might still be available.

Sure enough, a few weeks after I mailed my request to the commission a pristine copy arrived. The text is widely available online, but somehow the experience of holding and reading it is even… creepier.

“Ritual abuse is a serious and growing problem in our community and in our nation…,” it begins. “Society is only just beginning to recognize the gravity and scope…. Parents need to be educated about the hallmarks of this abuse occurring in preschools and day care centers….

“The ritual abuse in such an institutional setting is not incidental to its operation, but is in fact intrinsic, the very reason for the institution’s existence….

“To victimize and indoctrinate as many young children as possible, (ritual abusers) frequently function together in groups in the operation of preschools, day-care services and baby-sitting services, providing themselves access to children outside of their own families.”

Even now, when the case for ritual abuse no longer draws a crowd, the Report of the Ritual Abuse Task Force continues to be cited respectfully, as in “Healing the Unimaginable: Treating Ritual Abuse and Mind Control” (2011), “If the West Falls: Globalization, the End of America and Biblical Prophecy” (2011) and “Healing the Soul after Religious Abuse: The Dark Heaven of Recovery” (2009).

What must it take to slay the ritual-abuse dragon – a stake through the heart?

May 9, 2012

“A Question of Innocence: A True Story of False Accusation” by Lawrence D. Spiegel was published in 1986, but this passage – lamenting plea-bargains by those falsely accused of assaulting children – applies exactly to Little Rascals:

“The innocent often fall prey to the waiting hands of the prosecutor and plead guilty to a lesser charge, just to put an end to the ordeal and to the separation from a child.

“Prosecutors, as a result of over-zealousness to protect the child, blind ambition to further a career or a number of other reasons, will do ‘strange’ things for a conviction. It is always to the prosecutor’s benefit to get a guilty plea, even to a lesser charge. Sometimes the prosecutor will wait until the accused is emotionally and financially drained, then the plea bargain offer is made….

“Some falsely accused are so battered and beaten, they accept the humiliation and anger and take the deal. Often this occurs with the consent of the victim’s attorney…. The stigma of the bargain will remain forever.”

Oct. 19, 2012

“The backlash spewed from the guilty verdicts in the Little Rascals Day Care case have (sic) been painful and difficult to hear and live with. Those of us who advocate for the rights of children often feel that the gains made on their behalf over the past few years are eroding under falsehoods propagated by individuals who’s (sic) motives are undetermined.”

– From “Little Rascals Day Care Center Case: The Bitter Lesson, a Healthy Reminder” by Judith Steltzner Abbott (1994)

If the editors of the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse set aside six pages in hopes therapist Judy Abbott might respond thoughtfully to the Little Rascals “backlash,” they were surely disappointed.  Instead, she dodged reality with platitudes and self-congratulation.

Of course, even to acknowledge the concerns of her falsehood-propagating critics (the ones with “motives undetermined”) might have put at risk her nomination for the Distinguished Women of North Carolina Award.

Feb. 8, 2013

“Your honor, ladies and gentlemen, this is a case about trust and betrayal of trust… trust placed in the hands of Ray Buckey and Peggy Buckey.  Parents who will testify will tell you… they didn’t ask about activities that were going on at the preschool. They didn’t piece together the clues they were getting from their children. These parents will tell you they now understand the importance of listening. The case contains 100 felony counts of Section 288-A and B, and one count of conspiracy….

“Betrayal! These innocent children placed their trust in these two teachers and the teachers betrayed them…. One mother observed her two daughters performing oral copulation on each other. Another mother saw a sore rectum in her child. She will tell you she did not want to go to school, did not want to sit on her father’s lap and that she ran through the house singing, ‘What you see is what you are/ You’re a naked movie star.’

“One mother will tell you that she saw her daughter masturbating with a wooden pole. One mother will tell you that her children had nightmares.  One mother will tell you that her child had a rectal fissure. Another mother will tell you she saw bloody stools when her child went to the bathroom.  Then, the people will ask you to bring back verdicts on all 100 counts….”

– From Deputy District Attorney Lael Rubin’s opening statement in the McMartin Preschool ritual-abuse case

After the jury acquitted the Buckeys on 52 counts and deadlocked on 13 counts, Rubin complained that “They were lucky. I just hope to God that years from now we don’t hear about Ray Buckey molesting children…. I don’t think I would do anything different.”

Rubin seems to have been almost as graceless a loser as Nancy Lamb, doesn’t she? Almost.