The McMartin preschool case was based on allegations of sexual abuse of the school's children by the school's owners, the McMartin family. After seven years of criminal trials, no convictions were obtained, and all charges were dropped in 1990.

Contents

1 Allegations 2 The Trial 3 Media coverage 4 Aftermath 5 Sources

Allegations

In 1983, the mother of one of the Manhattan Beach, California school's young students complained to the police that her son had been molested by one of the school's teachers, and by her estranged husband. The teacher was arrested but was not prosecuted due to lack of evidence. The police, however, sent a letter to about 200 parents students at the McMartin school, stating that their children may have been forced into sex, and asking the parents to question their children.

Several hundred children were questioned, and by spring of 1984, 360 children had been identified as having been abused. A doctor concluded that 120 had been sexually abused. No physical evidence was found to support these allegations.

Critics have alleged that the questioners asked the children leading questions, repetitively, which, it is said, always yields positive responses from young children, making it impossible to know what the child actually experienced. Some claim the questioning alone may have lead to false-memory syndrome among the children who were questioned.

Some of the children's accusations were bizarre. Some alleged that, in addition to having been sexually abused, they saw witches fly, traveled in a hot air balloon, and were taken through underground tunnels (which were sought by investigators but never found). Some children said they were made to play a game called "Naked Movie Star" in which they were photographed nude.

The Trial

In March 1984, 208 counts of child abuse were laid against 7 owners and teachers from the school. In the 20 months of preliminary hearings, the prosecution presented a theory that satanic ritual abuse was afoot at the preschool.

In 1986, a new district attorney called the evidence "incredibly weak", and dropped all charges against five of the accused. In 1990, after about three years of testimony and nine weeks of deliberation by the jury, one of the remaining accused was cleared on all counts, and the other was cleared on 39 of 52 counts. He was retried later on some of the 13 counts, which were also hung. The prosecution then gave up trying to obtain a conviction.

Media coverage

Like other high-profile criminal trials in the United States, such as the OJ Simpson murder trial, the McMartin trial was heavily covered by television and print media. In 1986, a telephone survey showed that 96% of adults in the area had heard of the case, and over 90% of those who had an opinion believed the accused were guilty.

A moral panic of sorts ensued, in which network news shows claimed that Satanic abuse of children in schools and day-care centers was nationwide and rampant.

Aftermath

The McMartin preschool itself was closed and leveled. Three of the accused have died since the trial concluded.

In many states, laws were passed allowing children to testify on closed-circuit TV so the children would not be traumatized by facing the accused. This has been attacked as violating the guarantee in the U.S. Constitution that one may face his accusers.

One lasting legacy of the trial is an increased understanding of how to question very young children for evidence, with an eye toward their capacity for suggestibility.

Sources

"McMartin Ritual Abuse Cases in Manhattan Beach, CA", religioustolerance.org