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Child abuse is an extremely sensitive subject to many people. But to many people from McMartin Preschool, it is something that will stick with them forever. According to The World Book Encyclopedia, child abuse is “a term that generally refers to mistreatment of a child by a parent of another adult” (Zigler). It could also be “limited to life-threatening physical violence, including severe beating, burns, and strangulation” (Zigler). The horrific McMartin Preschool Trial was crazy and disgusting, leaving children scarred, parents angry, and the accused wronged. McMartin Preschool was a preschool located in Manhattan Beach, California. It was ran by the McMartin family including, Ray Buckey, Peggy McMartin Buckey, and Virginia McMartin. On …show more content…
August 12, 1983, Judy Johnson, a parent of a child attending the preschool, called the police and reported that her son, Billy had been molested by Ray Buckey at the preschool (Linder). This was discovered after they went to the doctor after Judy’s son told her that his anus was itching. At the doctor, they discovered a spot of blood around his anus. On August 30, 1983, Judy took Billy to the police station, where he was interviewed told the police that Ray Buckey had abused him (Linder). Buckey was arrested on September 7, 1983 (Linder). The following day, chief Harry Kuhlmeyer sent out 200 letters to parents asking for information on Ray Buckey and telling them that he is a suspected child abuser. In the letter it told parents that “Any information from your child, regarding having ever observed Ray Buckey to leave a classroom alone with a child during any nap period, or if they ever observed Ray Buckey tie up a child, is important” (Linder). Soon, they had hundreds of parents respond and police started interviewing the children. The interviewing quickly became overwhelming for the police and the parents, so they sent them to Ms. Macfarlane at the Children's Institute (Reinhold). The majority of the children denied any type of abuse or molestation at first. But when they told the children that the other children were telling secrets about the school, they all started opening up. Three hundred sixty out of four hundred children admitted to some sort of abuse or molestation (Reinhold). Some children told about tunnels under the school and killing animals as ritual. Many of the children talked about teachers taking photographs of them and being touched by them. One thing that came up with most of the children is the “Naked Movie Star Game” (Reinhold). This was described by the children as being a game where Ray Buckey and other teachers would have them strip down, dance, and pose to music while the teachers took photographs of them (Reinhold). There were many investigations on the tunnels that the children reported being taken to, but none were found. Parents were still very convinced they were there. In 1993 though, an archaeologist found remains of filled in tunnels under the preschool remains (Wyatt). Gary Stickel was hired by parents of the children who reported tunnels (Wyatt). Stickel began digging on May 8, 1990 and didn’t quit until May 31, 1990 (Wyatt). In his dig, he discovered that there was an entrance to tunnel located in one of the classrooms (Wyatt). It was obvious that it was filled in with dirt and debris. Ray Buckey, Peggy Ann Buckey, Virginia McMartin, and three teachers, Betty Raidor, Babette Spitler and Mary Ann Jackson were accused on March 22, 1984 to three hundred twenty one different counts on forty eight children (Linder). When asked, doctors reported that all forty eight children showed evidence that they had been abused (Linder). Soon after indicting the teachers, child pornography became the target of the molestation. But when the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Interpol did research, they found no videos or photographs showing that the accused had anything to do with child pornography. District Attorney, Robert Philobosian was purposely throwing the “McMartin Seven” into the media and making them look as bad as possible to help him increase his chances in getting votes in primary election that was approaching. In June of 1984, Peggy Buckey had a bail set for one million dollars and Ray Buckey was locked up with no bail. When the preliminary hearing began in August of 1984, prosecutor Lael Rubin reported that the seven people accused had committed three hundred ninety seven crimes (Linder).
The defense for the McMartins, included a lot of cross- examination in asking children, parents of the children, and doctors questions (McMartin). Children reported playing the Naked Movie Star Game and even singing a song to go with the game. Other children reported playing different games where they were sexually assaulted during the game. Children also reported being taken to different places such as other houses, circus tents, farms, car washes, and a secret room that could only be reached by tunnel (Linder). One little boy reported being taken to a church while the McMartin Preschool teachers wore masks and killed animals in a candle lit room (Linder). He also told them that he was forced to drink the blood of the dead animals. Another boy reported that him and some of the other children were taken to a cemetery and the teachers made them dig up coffins. Then the teachers would open the coffins and dismantle the bodies inside using knives …show more content…
(Linder). Over a year after the beginning of the hearing, even the prosecution team began to quit believing in the case. In December of 1985, the District Attorney's Office held a meeting and decided to drop charges against all of the defendants except for Ray Buckey and Peggy Buckey. This case already has costed the Los Angeles County four million dollars. When the first trial began, there had already been a documentary over the whole thing already being made. After a couple weeks, the twelve jurors, eight men and four women, were chosen. Opening statements began on July 14, 1987 (Reinhold). The attorney for Peggy Buckey, Dean Gits, said the the preschool was in business for twenty year without any problems. Daniel Davis was the attorney for Ray Buckey (Reinhold). There were several parent witnesses and children. Ms. Macfarlane spent nearly five weeks on the stand answering questions using an unusual technique by using dolls and puppets. George Freeman, Ray Buckey’s cell mate, reported that Buckey admitted to child molestation to him. He also said he has shipped child pornography across seas, had pornopgraphy photographs of himself and children in South Dakota, and has had a long term relationship with his sister. Ray Buckey denied all of this information. The cases went to the jury on November 2, 1989 (Reinhold). The jury spent nearly three months going over all the information and finally got their decision. Ray Buckey got thirteen counts put on him. Peggy Buckey was free of all charges. The second trial focused on only eight counts of child molestation on three children. This trial featured a new judge and two new prosecutors, Joe Martinez and Pemela Ferrero. After thirteen days, the charges on Ray Buckey were dismissed and a request for a third trial was denied. In conclusion the McMartin Preschool Trial was the most expensive and the longest trial in not only California, but the United States of America.
It costs fifteen million dollars and lasted nearly seven years. Ray Buckey spent five years in jail and many children were put through a very difficult thing. It is something that no kid should have to go through. The horrific McMartin Preschool Trial was crazy and disgusting, leaving children scarred, parents angry, and the accused wronged. It affected many people in the country. It caused teachers to lose jobs, insurance on preschools and daycares rise, and parents taking their children out of preschools. It also caused a large outbreak and made many parents file charges on preschools around the
nation.
The smell of death and decay, emanated inside the trunk of a Pontiac Sunfire. A missing child; only to be reported 31 days after she went missing, found dead in a forest close to her home. And a mother who was accused of murder, who got off with no charges, even with evidence stacking against her. This all started with one 9-1-1 phone call from a concerned grandmother who has not seen her grandchild in a month. Casey Anthony was the main headline in all the newspapers, cable television, and social media. Over more than 140 million people sat and watched as the trial played on, and a verdict was reached. This case was the largest and most polarizing case that America has ever seen.
Debated as one of the most misrepresented cases in American legal history, Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald still fights for innocence. Contrary to infallible evidence, prosecution intentionally withheld crucial information aiding MacDonald’s alibi. Such ratification included proof of an outside attack that would have played a major role in Jeffrey’s case.
The US incarcerates 5 times more children than any other nation. During his years as a Juvenile Court Judge, Ciavarella, alone, put more than 3,000 children in prison. The children he convicted were charged for minor crimes. For example, Ciavarella sentenced children to extended stays in juvenile detention for offenses as insignificant as trespassing in a vacant building, shoplifting DVDs from Wal-Mart, etc. (Robert May, Kids for Cash, 2014) The parents of the children involved were advised not to get lawyers
... Although, most believe that 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 investigation 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 facts of the case are now more readily available thanks to the internet. When the story first broke in 1992 the internet was still in its infancy. Most of the media coverage at the time came from print and television coverage and most of that was not comprehensive at all. The initial jury award of almost 3 million dollars was sensational, grabbing headlines all over the world. Now with the advent of the internet in its modern form the facts are coming out about what actually happened. It turns out that Mrs. Liebeck was actually injured far more seriously than most realize and received far less money than was actua...
...he police because she would be imprisoned for child neglect. The defense not only came out and said George Anthony covered it up, but they also say that he sexually abused Casey as a child which later would cause her to hide her pain and lie. They also claimed that Caylee was George’s child.
The case started in Topeka, Kansas, a black third-grader named Linda Brown had to walk one mile through a railroad switchyard to get to her black elementary school, even though a white elementary school was only seven blocks away. Linda's father, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll her in the white elementary school seven blocks from her house, but the principal of the school refused simply because the child was black. Brown went to McKinley Burnett, the head of Topeka's branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and asked for help (All Deliberate Speed pg 23). The NAACP was eager to assist the Browns, as it had long wanted to challenge segregation in public schools. The NAACP was looking for a case like this because they figured if they could just expose what had really been going on in "separate but equal society" that the circumstances really were not separate but equal, bur really much more disadvantaged to the colored people, that everything would be changed. The NAACP was hoping that if they could just prove this to society that the case would uplift most of the separate but equal facilities. The hopes of this case were for much more than just the school system, the colored people wanted to get this case to the top to abolish separate but equal.
As Linder explains Billy’s mother took him to the doctor after school because he said his anus itched. The doctor encountered spots of blood that wasn't supposed to be there. It was result of this doctors visit they came to a conclusion of what had happened earlier that day at school (Linder, "Chronology of the McMartin Preschool Abuse Trials"). A worried mother, Judy Johnson was determined to make this situation known. Linder confirms that Johnson called the police after leaving the doctor’s office because she suspected that Billy’s symptoms consisted of were caused by the faculty at the school earlier that day (Linder, "Chronology of the McMartin Preschool Abuse Trials"). As Kathryn Shelton, a research associate at the O’Neil Center at Southern Methodist University and Richard B. Mckenzie, a professor emeritus in the Merage Business School at the University of California, Irvine notes, this being the first accusation of child molestation brought it straight to trial (Shelton and
This morning, jurors in the case viewed the girl's videotaped interview with police. During the interview, which lasted about 90 minutes, the girl detailed the alleged incidents with Groves. Yesterday, jurors heard from her in person.
Child abuse does not discriminate against a child because of age, sex, religion, or socioeconomic background. Every child is vulnerable to abuse. Parents today face the possibility that someone they know or a stranger may hurt or take advantage of their children. Research indicates that as many as one out of every four children will be the victims of some kind of abuse (National Child Abuse Statistics). Furthermore, one of the biggest ironies of child abuse is that the family, a child’s primary source of care, love, and security, can also be their most taunting experience. This was the case of 17 month old baby, Peter Connelly. Throughout his short life span, he suffered from neglect and physical abuse that ultimately caused his death. Child abuse is a serious problem that is being taken too lightly.
Maier, Timothy W. “Suffer the Children.” Insight on the News 24 Nov. 1997: Pg. 11.
The 1980s was a decade full of the fear of feminism, the fear of crime, and the fear of satanic sexual abuse on children. From 1980 to 1990, child sexual abuse and satanic child sexual abuse was a hysteria sweeping the nation. Preschools and day care centers had soon turned to ghost towns as guardians of the children became terrified to let their children out of their sight. McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach, California, is one of the most famous cases, and was also a case made with no evidence. Although the McMartin family was innocent to the ritual sexual abuse chargers, many citizens wrongfully accused them due to the mass hysteria around the subject at the time.
Child abuse is a social problem in America that has many contributed factors. Factors that contribute to child abuse and neglect includes poverty, divorce, substance use, lack of education, stress due to unemployment, mental health issues, teenage parent, and a history of child abuse in the family. It took decades for physicians to conclude that parents have been violently assaulting their children. Child abuse, child labor, juvenile delinquency, and similar social questions historically were ethical and moral problems, not strictly medical ones. (Helfer, Kempe, & Krugman, 1997). In 1962, the Journal of American Medical Association published “The Battered-Child Syndrome.” The article transformed society’s views and dates the rediscovery of child abuse as a social problem. Following this article, the U.S. Children’s Bureau adopted the first laws mandating physicians to report any suspicions of abuse and neglect to the police or child welfare. By 1974, some 60,000 cases were reported. In 1980, the number exceeded one million (Myers J. E., 2004).
The physical abuse of children covers a wide range of actions from what some might term ‘justifiable chastisement’ such as slapping or spanning to the sort of actions which most would agree constitute deliberate, sadistic cruelty against children.
Child abuse is a very serious problem that continues to happen all over the world. The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, defines child abuse as a failure to act as a parent or caregiver which results in physical/emotional harm, sexual abuse, and in some cases death. There are many different types of child abuse such as emotional, physical, neglect, and sexual. With each type of abuse there are warning signs you can spot before it is too late. When a child is abused there is a huge possibility that it can cause them to have many long term effects.