As I watched the series, I realized that there was no way -- no way -- that the charges could be true, yet so many people seemed inclined to believe them. People went to prison only to have convictions overturned; lives were ruined, and it became obvious that if the authorities wanted to convict someone on the basis of, frankly, coached testimony from children, it was not difficult to do so.
For whatever reasons, I came to see these kinds of cases as a symbol of what American "justice" was becoming, and as more and more cases, like that in Wenatchee, came about, I realized that when it comes to these kinds of accusations, the authorities seem to lose all sanity and the ability to reason. Dorothy Rabinowitz of the Wall Street Journal picked up on the subject and wrote a number of columns and editorials excoriating police, prosecutors, and judges for going along with the scam, winning a Pulitzer Prize and writing an excellent book, No Crueler Tyrannies.
At the time, I had no forum to stand up for people falsely accused, but my opportunity finally came when Lew Rockwell gave me near carte blanche on his blog in the infamous Duke Lacrosse Case of 2006-07. In response, over the next year, I would write nearly 70 articles on his blog about the case, the lies being told by prosecutor Mike Nifong, and the misconduct of the Duke University faculty and administration.
The Duke case was a watershed for me, as I came to understand that the Progressive institutions in this country are built and primed for false accusations in sexually-charged situations. The problem, as I came to see it, was not "overzealousness," "mistaken identity," or even "insanity" or "misunderstandings."
No, the problem is systematic and it is built into the very laws passed supposedly to protect "victims" of these crimes. The formula for tyranny came about innocuously and innocently enough; Congress passed laws to aid local law enforcement in order to stop sexual crimes against children and women. The formula, whether it was contained in the Mondale Act of 1974 (and subsequent such acts) or the Violence Against Women Act, went as such:
- The nation faced a "crisis," whether it was children being abused or women being the victims of rape and other violence;
- The federal government would provide financial and other assistance to state and local governments in exchange for those entities aggressively pursuing those kinds of charges.
The same is true regarding any claim of child molestation, "inappropriate" touching, or anything of the sort, and the charges MUST be investigated as though they were true. Furthermore, in the case of children, the various federally-created (and often funded) agencies like Child Protective Services and the Children's Advocacy Center become involved in the investigations and the interviews with children.
One easily can spot the bias for assuming guilt in such situations. In the Duke Case, Tara Levicy, a hardcore feminist who was seeking her certification to be a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE), was involved in the investigation and ultimately fabricated material and lied to the police in an attempt to frame the three defendants. It is clear that Levicy was not interested in the facts, but rather promoting her "women never lie about rape" ideology that is common among many (but certainly not all) feminists.
In Tonya Craft's case, we saw not only just how the Children's Advocacy Center "interviewers" acted unprofessionally while testifying (giggling, shrugging their shoulders, rolling their eyes, and sighing out loud). Even a cursory look at the transcripts of their interviews with the child accusers demonstrates just how they broke every rule of forensic interviewing, yet were treated by the court as "experts" in investigating "child molestation."
Combined with the federal money that comes to states and localities for pursuing such accusations, as well as the built-in bias that comes into the way the authorities are to pursue such cases, it is no wonder that people are easily railroaded into prison even if they are innocent.
There are other factors at work, too. First, defending oneself is an expensive proposition, and very few people have six figures of spare change needed to have the kind of legal representation that will effectively deal with false allegations. Second, the authorities are spending other people's money and have nothing of their own at stake, which means that the odds are against the person falsely accused.
Third, the media often jumps on the "Guilty!" bandwagon early. There is the use of the mug shot, which exists ONLY to make someone look guilty. Second, because media sources usually are concentrated in the government sector, prosecutors and police are first in line to undermine the defendant's case, and most reporters (but not all) gladly go along with the scam.
To me, this not only is wrong, but it is immoral and has no place in a free society. (Of course, ours no longer is a "free society," but we like to pretend that it is.) People who are falsely accused -- and it is not difficult to see that many of those charged with the "crimes" I have mentioned -- are demonized unfairly in the media and have a huge battle to fight just to win their freedom. I believe that fighting for the rights of the accused is a battle worth fighting, especially since the so-called gatekeepers of our rights -- the news media -- for the most part have decided that helping to deny the rights of the accused is more fun and more profitable.
In future posts, I will cover things one should do if falsely accused, and I will write on things that one might do in order to avoid false accusations, at least in some circumstances.
9 comments:
Love this article as I've loved all of your writings on this subject. However, there's an inconsistency in the funding for CAPTA, better known as the Mondale Act of 1974. I'd heard a while back there was no funding for the court cases from this act going back to 9/30/08 but hadn't ever done the research. It was actually quite easy and I foung the answer today. Check this, being sure to go all the way to the bottom, to the red information annotated after the original article: http://www.ncsc.org/services-and-experts/government-relations/child-welfare/capta-reauthorization.aspx
One would have to ask. How can prosecutors and alleged therapists/examiners continue their thing and not put huge inroads into their local budgets? It appears as if for more than 2 years, there is no legal funding for these witch hunts. In fact, legislation to fund this program is on hold until the health care reform legislation is resolved. That brings up a whole new set of questions about the legality of these supposed investigations/trials/imprisonments.
Dr. Anderson, this article appeared in Sunday's edition of The Tennessean. As soo a I read it, I thought of your blog and the Tonya Craft case. I am only hoping and praying that the CAC of this area is much much better than the ones in the Chattanooga/North GA area.
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110327/NEWS01/103270367/Some-DCS-staffers-lack-training-interview-child-abuse-victims
KC, DA's can use these "high profile" cases to spring board them to richer pastures, look at Janet Reno. She prosecuted Bobby Fijnje in a McMartin like case. Frontline and PBS both did some great stories on this. In fact, Frontline's story was called "The Miami Method" http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/fuster/etc/miami.html
To Anon,
There are NO, repeat NO standards, educational or otherwise anywhere for DCS or CAC investigators. The requirements to get a job with DCS is a degree, preferably in Psyc or Social work. The requirement to get a job at CAC depends on which one you go to. In the Craft case, a high school diploma and a 5 day "class" was the minimum requirement.
Now mix well, the ideology of some lovely fresh 22 yo with their emotional baggage (mommy was mean to me and I don't think is right) and ask them to use their "best" judgement when looking at a single mom with 4 kids who works the night shift at Wal Mart. You can see where this leads.
The reality is this, in every other profession where someone's life is on the line we require extensive education, testing, on-going education, checks and double checks on training and the performance of that training... not so for DCS, who has almost Gestapo like powers, and CAC. We place in the hands of the unskilled and agenda ridden the power to destroy whole families with a single stroke of the pen. We blindly "trust" that they will use good judgement and are skilled professionals.. Silly us.
An early-morning fire over the weekend forced a Pembroke family to jump to safety from the second floor of their house.
While the Pembroke Street home appears to be a total loss, the Booker family said they have received a tremendous outpouring of support from the community.
Dawn Booker said her 68-year-old mother, who lives on the second floor, was also able to escape safely.
"That little window out of the top there, I pushed my mom out of the window," she said. "I had to go after because there was just so much smoke downstairs."
Police Officer Dana Dexter and a corrections officer were on their way home from working third shift in Concord when they came across the fire. The two worked to break the fall of Booker and her mother.
"The fire was starting right under where they were standing," Dexter said. "When they were on the roof, the fire was actually under them."
Dexter said he was told the family's dog, Billie, was still inside, but he couldn't get to it. He told firefighters about the dog and then recorded video on his cell phone of them carrying the dog out of the fire.
"We're over at the neighbor's house, and my son is completely distraught," Booker said. "'My dog! My dog, Billie!' and they yelled to us, 'The dog is OK!' My son goes running out jumping up and down."
The 10-year-old rescue dog was hiding in the only room that didn't burn. Booker said the dog is receiving some oxygen at a veterinarian.
The Bookers said they plan to rebuild in Pembroke, but they are staying in a hotel for now. Booker said her mother is still in a hospital for observation.
to anon... ?????
This applies to this blog how?
anon, I am glad to hear that a cop did something good. I would recommend starting your own blog. But when a cop does something good, should that excuse cops who lie and fabricate evidence to send innocent people to jail? That rationalization is part of the problem.
Kerwyn:
Anontroll is one of those authoritah-worshipers that clutches desperately at every dry straw it finds in order to justify the existence and actions of the State's punitive class. In (what passes for) the minds of such creatures, any act of ordinary human decency by these wretched creatures equates to them being "heroes." While I will admit that an act of human decency coming from one of these monsters is rare enough to make us sit up and take notice, the idea that such acts make them "heroes," or even decent human beings is laughable. If they were truly decent human beings, they would be demonstrating their commitment to the Rule of Law and the protection of our rights and property by taking clearly visible and public steps to purge their ranks of the criminal scum that clearly are the majority power among them. Needless to say, there is a better chance of the sun rising in the West tomorrow than of that ever happening.
At any rate, anontroll and its pals who regularly scribble their juvenile graffiti on this blog are here for the attention. The best way to react to them is to just ignore them.
I am delighted to discover this blog. Anderson's position as a professor of economics clearly gives him a unique and necessary angle on explaining why false allegations are an industry and are "systematic."
I have endured false allegations from the local DCS office and now reside on an abuse registry when they set up an alleged black eye at the school! DCS of TN should be shut down eliminating this $664 million dollar industry for " the best interests of the child"!
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