There were many factors in the Amirault family case that led to injustice and made this case unfair. Main factors that impacted this case were profiling, false confessions and the violation of rights. Also, Justice Fried saw many corruptions in the legal process in this case. Justice Fried pointed out there were hysteria, suggestibility, and violation of constitutional rights in the Amirault case. One thing about this case that was very surprising, the fact children were basically brainwashed. They were programmed to believe they were molested under the care of Fells Acres Daycare. In addition to being brainwashed not into believe they were molested by Gerald Amirault, they were able to give chilling details of the events that they believe took place. For example there was one confession made by one female child, I like to call the magic wand confession. This little girl was able to give very clear and explicate details about her false experience. She claimed that a magic wand toy was placed in inappropriate areas on her body, including the vaginal and anal areas by Cheryl and Violet Amirault. Furthermore, these acts was supposedly captured on camera by Cheryl Amiraults, that was not found in the investigation. In addition to the lack of photos as evidence, there were no physical marks, …show more content…
burns, cuts, or bruises on the victim. Another confession that was intriguing was the testimony of a girl who claimed that Gerald had penetrated her anal area with a butcher knife.
It so amusing that a supposedly certified Dr. Jean Emans testified “that an object could touch the hymen on the way to trying to find the anus.” In contrast to that statement, it was reported that the butcher knife was able to pass delicate tissues without any signs of injury. Side note, as a medical doctor reading this testimony, Dr. Jean Emans should have saw the many red flags in this confession. The fact it was a small girl and a butcher knife, it is common sense that there would have been a least small signs of injuries of
somesort. One other important leading factor of injustice in this case was profiling. The court profiled Gerald Amirault based off the history of his drunken abusive father, Francis Amirault. The court took into account the fact that as a child, Gerald was abused by his father. In addition to that, his father abused his mother and eventually abandoned his family one christmas morning. They concluded that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. The court came to the conclusion that in order to escape the pains and terrifying memories of his past of his father’s abuse, he inflicted pain and torture on the children of Fells Acres. Although, it is true that many people who grow up with traumatic experiences such as Gerald Amirault, do tend to reflect what has happen to them on others. On the other hand, with this case the lack of evidences alone should have been enough to turn heads and question the decision making within the legal process. Justice Charles Fried raised many points in this case and his position was pretty clear. He saw corruption in the legal process in this case. He pointed out that hysteria affected the investigation. Also he saw that in the questioning of children there was suggestibility present.
...at because of the size of the children there would have been physical symptoms, no documented evidence of this sort was presented during the case. Out of 100 students no physical symptoms were ever recorded, and not one student said anything about abuse until four years later when the investigator was pursued (Silvergate, 2004) No parents ever filed complaints prior to police investigation. Because memories are malleable and children are even more vulnerable to authority, it is very probable that some children just complied to the leading questions due to fear, but is it possible that they all could? The influence of the investigators parallels to the influence of therapists in cases of sexually abused children's recovered memories.
Years ago the gruesome murders of 3 8-year-old boys shocked West Memphis Arkansas Stevie branch Christopher byers and Michael Moore second-grade playmates were beaten to death naked tied up in Shallowater.Police arrested three teenagers who were alleged devil worshiping ringleader mean Damien Echols Echols and 16-year-old Jason Baldwin denied involvement but 17-year-old Jessie Misskelley telling authorities they killed the boys Hanson counter in the woods this Kelly who defense attorneys claim has a low IQ now says the confessions workhorse despite a lack of significant physical evidence linking the teens to the crime all three were found guilty Ackles was sentenced to death.17-year-olds Jessie confesses to watching two other suspects choke rape and sexually mutilated three W. Memphis second graders.Reports according to the published report Misskelly told police he watched 18-year-old Damien Echols and 16-year-old Jason Baldwin hit the children with a club and a knife. At a press conference Inspector Gary Getchell said the case against the accused team is very strong the only problem is that the statement of sheriff Berkowitz the citizens of the state that was true was absolutely bull he knew he had to know that Dan has knows it was not a single piece of credible evidence to type any baby that most of these but the two pieces of evidence that existed at that time were a statement by a woman who is facing embezzlement charges.charges that she wouldn't play detective find out what went on in this case she knew was Kelly and she told the police that as a detective Ms. Kelly had taken her baby Neckles twisted panic S that her name was Vicky Hutchison what we know today about that I know that the show that's one piece of evidence the s...
Of all the miscarriages of justice committed during the era of hysteria over child sex abuse, the Amirault case is by far the worst. The evidence that convicted him was preposterous. The methods used to browbeat tiny tots into producing it have been thoroughly discredited. His innocence has been obvious for years. Yet a succession of prosecutors, judges and state governors (to say nothing of the media) did their best to keep him rotting.
Jerry Sandusky seemed obviously guilty to most people, but certain details of the case may have caused dispute between the jurors. Kevin Johnson, author of “Sandusky Jury Hears Testimony”, stated, “The first of the eight victims said he suffered for five years of being forced into about fifty sexual encounters by Sandusky. Now twenty-eight, the witness said his interactions with Sandusky escalated from friendly tips and ‘soap battles’ in the showers of a Penn State locker room to inappropriate touching, then in 1997 veered into dozens of incidents of oral sex” (1). Along with the first boy, others came forward and admitted to being victims of Sandusky’s abuse, and they all had similar stories. People later came forward and admitted to seeing Sandusky performing these acts, but failed to report them. An instance of this happening occurred when “a janitor admitted to seeing Sandusky sexually offending a young boy in the locker room, but did not report it at the time” (Johnson “Sandusky Abuse Trial Moves Quickly” 1). Because the janitor did not report what he saw at this time, it weakened the credibility of his testimony. Another controversial point was brought about during the trial. I...
In the town, of West Memphis, Arkansas, three eight year old boys (Chris Byers, Michael Moore, and Stevie Branch) went missing May fourth, the following day they were found bruised, mutilated, hogtied, and stripped of their clothes with signs of rape present due to the dilation of the anus. The body of Byers was found submerged in the creek about 60 yards south of Interstate 55(Crime scene or dump site?). The other two bodies was located exactly five feet in both directions of Byers body. (It was determined that Moore and Branch both died from multiple traumatic injuries to the head, torso, and extremities with drowning; while, Byers died of the multiple traumatic i...
More than 200,000 children may be involved in the legal system in any given year, and 13,000 of these children are preschool age. Often with these cases involving young children, issues arise concerning credibility, vulnerability, and memory retrieval. Studies have shown that preschool age children are quite capable of providing accurate testimony, but they are also more vulnerable to distorting this memory and testimony. Public and professional opinion about the credibility of children as witnesses in court cases has been sharply divided. On one side, it is contended that when children disclose details of a circumstance, they must be believed, no matter what techniques were used to obtain this disclosure. For example, if a child is asked whether or not he/she was abused, and to describe this incident, we must believe that child because children cannot possibly generate a false report of their own sexual victimization. The other side depicts children as being helpless sponges ...
Brott, A. (2010). A System Out of Control: The Epidemic of False Allegations of Child Abuse. Retrieved from http://www.fathersmanifesto.net/armin.htm
What happened to children and famalies involved is very unfortunate. Justice was not served in this case due to the lack of punishment served to those that were accountable for this crime. Once this case was active it opened the eyes to the public and similar cases were discovered around the world. after the case was over society discovered secret tunnels under the school after the case was over where most of the rituals took place. The McMartin Preschool trial is one that should not go unforgotten. What happened to children and famalies involved is very unfortunate. Words to describe the McMartin Preschool Trial would be cruel, traumatic, and life changing, because no family should ever have to go through what the familes of the children attending McMartin Preschool had to go
In reading about this case, I am struck first and foremost, by the damaging effects of improperly executed child witness interrogation practices, and the enormous value of the immense body of research and the resultantly improved understanding of the effects of the proper handling of such a delicate undertaking. I can’t help but feel that the interrogation process itself, can in effect be a traumatic event, and the manner in which it is carried out acting as either a benefit or an added stressor, to a child already in obvious distress. These considerations are directly responsible for so many cases of child abuse not being reported, out of a fear of worsening an already painful experience, and underline the great need for, and value of, such protective and progressive institutions, such as child advocacy centers.
Many people think that children do not lie. It is not that they lie, they just cannot remember what happened a year or two ago when they were much younger, perhaps only a year or two old. The truth is children do lie. “One study shows that twenty three percent of abuse allegations are false and there was insufficient information to determine the truth in another twenty four percent” (Slicker W.D., 1999, Child testimony ¶ 16). Fear is also a factor in children lying or not providing adequate information. Lepore (1991) says that studies show in most abuse cases the suspect will usually bribe the child or threaten them into secrecy. This causes the child to become afraid to tell the truth, and they will begin to deny what has happened or even worse not report the abuse at all. The way an interviewer phrases a question will influence a child.
Does justice exist in America? Yes, justice does exist in America, but for whom is the question real question. In America all citizens should feel equal to one another but that is not the case. Rather than feeling equal to one another, the blacks and whites of the country feel hatred to one another. In American justice is served but it is mainly for whites and not blacks. The word justice is defined as the quality of being fair and reasonable. Unfortunately in America, justice is not always equally served due to racism in the modern society.
Social injustice had always been an uncorrected shortcoming for France from the early 19th century to the present. While the social injustice that appeared in the form of French religious persecution was much more visible during the early 19th century than in the reasonably tolerant 21st century, as seen in the contrasting cases of the Anti-Sacrilege Act in 1825 and the About-Picard Law in 2001, social injustice was a ubiquitous presence in many religious institutions of France. In a different degree of paramountcy, the social injustice manifested in the style of French political inequalities remains to be a perennial prejudice against the “forgotten man”, one clear-cut case being the anti-Semitic and espionage controversy of the Dreyfus Affair in the modern 20th century. In the same way, the social injustice seen in the economic discrimination in France was so prominent that literary works such as Les Miserables by eminent novelist Victor Hugo and its more modern philosophical counterpart, La Misère Du Monde by prominent French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu continually emphasized on the French economic inequalities between the inferior social classes and bourgeois-esque citizens. While religious persecution in France was more visible in the 1800s than that of recent times, the social injustice seen in the case of political inequalities and economic discriminations remained more or less the same throughout the 19th and 21st centuries.
Childhood sexual abuse has been and continues to be a major issue in American society. Victims of such trauma can illustrate both short-term and long-term side effects, stemming from the damage endured during childhood. In severe cases, unresolved trauma of sexual abuse can have dire consequences. One of the most infamous and publicized case (cases) that illustrated these dire consequences was the Menendez murders of 1989.
Widom, Cathy S. "Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Later Criminal Consequences." Trooper (March 1995): 1-8. NCJRS. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.
More importantly, “60 percent of children who are sexually abused do not disclose and most are acquaintances but as many as 47 percent are family or extended family” (The Scope of, 2016). The prevalence of child sexual abuse is difficult to determine because it is often not reported; experts agree that the incidence is far greater than what is reported to authorities (Child Sexual Abuse, 2012). Startling statistics represent the depth of the issue. Globally, prevalence rates show that a range of 7-36% of women and 3-29% of men experience sexual abuse in childhood (The Scope of, 2016). “The U.S Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Bureau report child maltreatment 2010 found that 9.2% of victimized children were sexually assaulted” (Child Sexual Abuse,