True Crime-Paranormal-Conspiracy Theories Stories Part V #Wattys2023

Satanic Panic Part II

Investigations

Two investigations were carried out toassess the evidence for SRA. In the United Kingdom, a governmentreport produced no evidence of SRA, but several examples of falsesatanists faking rituals to frighten their victims. In the UnitedStates, evidence was reported but was based on a flawed methods withan overly liberal definition of a substantiated case.

United Kingdom

A British study published in 1996 found62 cases of alleged ritual abuse reported to researchers by police,social and welfare agencies from the period of 1988 to 1991,representing a tiny proportion of extremely high-profile casescompared to the total number investigated by the agencies.Anthropologist Jean LaFontaine spent several years researching ritualabuse cases in Britain at the behest of the government, finding thatall of the cases of alleged satanic ritual abuse that could besubstantiated were cases where the perpetrators' goal was sexualgratification rather than religious worship. Producing severalreports and the 1998 book Speak of the Devil, after reviewing casesreported to police and children's protective services throughout thecountry LaFontaine concluded that the only rituals she uncovered werethose invented by child abusers to frighten their victims or justifythe sexual abuse. In addition, the sexual abuse occurred outside ofthe rituals, indicating the goal of the abuser was sexualgratification rather than ritualistic or religious. In casesinvolving satanic abuse, the satanic allegations by younger childrenwere influenced by adults, and the concerns over the satanic aspectswere found to be compelling due to cultural attraction of theconcept, but distracting from the actual harm caused to the abusevictims.

In more recent years, discreditedallegations of SRA have been leveled against Jimmy Savile during theposthumous investigation into his sexual abuse of children, as wellas against former Prime Minister Ted Heath (who was previouslyfalsely accused of SRA during his lifetime).

United States

David Finkelhor completed aninvestigation of child sexual abuse in day cares in the UnitedStates, and published a report in 1988. The report found 270 cases ofsexual abuse, of which 36 were classified as substantiated cases ofritual abuse. Mary de Young has pointed out that the report'sdefinition of "substantiated" was overly liberal asit required only that one agency had decided that abuse had occurred,even if no action was taken, no arrests made, no operating licensessuspended. In addition, multiple agencies may have been involved ineach case (including the FBI, local police, social services agenciesand childhood protective services in many cases), with widedifferences in suspicion and confirmation, often in disagreement witheach other. Finkelhor, upon receiving a "confirmation,"would collect information from whoever was willing or interested toprovide it and did not independently investigate the cases, resultingin frequent errors in his conclusions. No data is provided beyondcase studies and brief summaries. Three other cases consideredcorroborating by the public—the McMartin preschool trial, theCountry Walk case and the murders in Matamoros, by AdolfoConstanzo—ultimately failed to support the existence of SRA. Theprimary witness in the Country Walk case repeatedly made, thenwithdrew accusations against her husband amid unusual and coerciveinquiries by her lawyer and a psychologist. The Matamoros murdersproduced the bodies of 12 adults who were ritually sacrificed by adrug gang inspired by the film The Believers, but did not involvechildren or sexual abuse. The McMartin case resulted in noconvictions and was ultimately based on accusations by children withno proof beyond their coerced testimonies.[80] A 1996 investigationof more than 12,000 allegations of satanic, ritual and religiousabuse resulted in no cases that were considered factual orcorroborated.