Archive for the ‘Recovered Memory’ Category
Elizabeth Loftus Named 2005 Winner of Grawemeyer Award for Psychology
Elizabeth Loftus, who was instrumental in leading the public debunking of the false memory/satanic ritual abuse hysteria in the 1990s, was recently named as the winner of the 2005 University of Louisiana Grawemeyer Award for Psychology. As the press release announcing the award notes,
The fifth awarding of the $200,000 prize for outstanding ideas in the field of psychology is to Elizabeth Loftus, whose research on false recollections and the reliability of eyewitness reports and memories “recovered” through therapy has affected the way law enforcement agencies and the court system view such testimony.
The psychologist has shown that people not only forget but also falsely remember, meaning that they sincerely and vividly can recall events that never happened when information suggested to them becomes entwined with their memory of what actually happened. She points out that the individual may not be able to separate the real threads of memory from the added strands of suggestion.
Loftus’ research has implications for law and for psychotherapy’s methods of probing memory. Interest in both has led to her popularity as a speaker, author, journal editorial board member and expert trial witness. She has testified or consulted in many nationally publicized cases, including trials involving Michael Jackson, Rodney King and the Oklahoma City bombing. Her many honors include both of the American Psychological Society’s top awards and an American Psychological Association award; she also has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Loftus paid a high person and professional price for standing up for good old fashioned science and standards of evidence at a time when many preferred to continue to take at face value wildly improbable stories of widespread satanic cults. She deserves this award and so much more for her work.
Source:
Psychology award criticized. Associated Press, December 1, 2004.
2005 - Elizabeth Loftus. Grawemeyer Award for Psychology, Press Release, November 30, 2004.
Tags: Elizabeth Loftus
Victim of Recovered Memory Psychologists Receives $7.5 Million Award
In the 1980s, psychiatrist Bennett Braun was at the center of the hysteria over Satanic cults and recovered memory. Through his practice at the Rush North Shore Medical Center, Braun convinced otherwise rational women and men that they were part of Satanic cults that were killing babies and committing other crimes. Braun told the individuals that they had repressed their memories of these events, and he used a number of dubious techniques to convince his patients that they had participated in these activities.
In February, Braun was once again at the center of the Satanic hysteria but in a different role — as a defendant seeking to settle a multimillion lawsuit brought by former patient Elizabeth Gale, 52.
Braun, and co-defendant psychologist Roberta Sachs’, actions were particularly pernicious with Gale. After checking into Rush for mild depression, Braun convinced her that she was part of a Satanic cult and had given birth to children who were used as human sacrifices in the cult. Braun and Sachs convinced Gale to voluntarily sterilize herself to prevent the cult from using her to produce future such sacrifices.
Gale’s attorney, Todd Smith, told the court that,
[Braun and Sachs] convinced Ms. Gale she had dozens of different personalities which had been created as a result of the horrific trauma they told her she suffered as a child. . . . [they] convinced Ms. Gale she was a member of a worldwide secret . . . satanic cult . . . that Ms. Gale was a ‘breeder’ for the cult and that she had sacrificed her previous children, when she in fact had never had children.
Braun and Sachs had previously settled with former patient Patricia Burgus for $10.6 million. Braun and Sachs convinced Burgus that she was some sort of high priestess in the worldwide Satanic cult.
If there were any justice, Braun and Sachs would be sitting in jail for their fraudulent and repulsive actions, but the only attempt to hold them criminally responsible failed to garner a conviction.
Source:
Not in cult: Woman gets $7.5 million. Abdon M. Pallasch, Chicago Sun-Times, February 12, 2004.
Saskatchewan Agrees to $1.5 Million Interim Payment for Klassens
Back in December, a Canadian court ruled that 12 members of the Klassen family prosecuted in a series of ritual abuse cases had been the subject of “malicious prosecution” (see Saskatchewan Government Says It’s Not Sorry for Malicious Prosecution). In February, the Saskatchewan government agreed to pay the Klassens an interim $1.5 million payment, with more compensation — though not necessarily an apology — coming.
That came after a judge ordered Saskatchewan to enter into settlement talks with the Klassens despite the government’s ongoing appeal of the December ruling. In fact, Saskatchewan Justice Minister Frank Quennell was quick to point out that by paying the $1.5 million, the government was not admitting fault. Quennell told the CBC,
These are not monies being paid in respect to damages, or in respect to any liability. The government is not subject to the result of the appeal, is not liable to pay this amount of money.
For his part, the most famous of the defendants, Richard Klassen, said that the payment of the money is an acknowledgement of his family’s innocence, although he still wants an apology from the government,
It’s been a long time. So what went through my mind was a little bit of satisfaction and, well, acknowledgement. It’s one thing to be acknowledged that you’re innocent, but, I mean, taking away a little bit of the suffering helps.
Quennell might not think that police and the government were malicious, but according to the CBC, in early February “two executive members of Frank Quennell’s constituency office resigned in disgust over the way the Klassens have been treated by the Justice Department.”
Source:
Government gives Klassens $1.5M. CBC Saskatchewan, February 5, 2004.
Saskatchewan Government Says It’s Not Sorry for Malicious Prosecution
A judge recently ruled that a family accused of ritual abuse had been the victim of “malicious prosecution” but that hasn’t stopped representatives of the Saskatchewan government from saying it did nothing wrong and has nothing to apologize for.
The case against 12 members of the Klassen family began in 1987 when three foster children — a boy and his twin sisters — made accusations of incredibly bizarre ritual sexual abuse against their foster parents which soon led to allegations against twelve family members.
The children’s accusations were filled with bizarre ritual abuse, including claims that they were forced to eat eye balls, drink blood, participate in orgies, and watch while infants were skinned alive.
Police in Saskatoon called it the “scandal of the century” but few charges were actually lodged against anyone and by 1993 all charges in the cases were stayed. The children later came forward to repudiate the stories. The boy had been removed shortly before making the allegations after he had been found abusing his sisters. He maintained he made up the stories in order to be reunited with his sisters whom he then convinced to go along with the fiction.
On December 30 a judge ruled that Crown Prosecutor Matthew Miazga, Saskatoon Police Superintendent Brian Dueck, and child therapist Carol Bunko-Ruys were guilty of malicious prosecution. Shortly afterward, Saskatoon police chief Russell Sabo publicly apologized to the Klassen’s and promised an investigation into what went wrong in the investigation of the case.
Sabo said,
The judgment in this case vindicates the plaintiffs for the criminal charges they faced. Based on the information contained in the judgment, as the chief of police of the Saskatoon police service, my sympathy goes to each and every person that was wrongfully charged and I extend my apologies to them for any part that the Saskatoon police service played in this case.
But Saskatchewan Justice Minister Frank Quennell was having none of it, telling Canoe.Com,
It is our position that Crown prosecutors did not commit a wrong and there is no reason they would be required to apologize in that circumstance.
Quennell is probably afraid of the millions of dollars that Saskatchewan is going to have to pay out to the Klassen’s and perhaps even the twin sisters. They are also suing Saskatchewan, arguing that police social workers and others did nothing to protect them from the abuse they were subjected to by their brother.
Sources:
Twins hail malicious prosecution victory. CBC News, December 31, 2003.
NDP Must Take Responsibility for Klassen Family Tragedy and Negotiate Payment Immediately. Press Release, SKCaucus.Com, January 8, 2004.
Sask. government won’t apologize in abuse case. Canoe.CaTim Cook, January 8, 2004
Saskatchewan offers Klassen no apology. Darren Yourk, Globe and Mail, January 8, 2004.
Tags: Canada
Woman in UK Appeals Murder Conviction Citing Recovered Memories
Jane Andrews, a former dresser to the Duchess of York, recently filed an appeal of her murder conviction claiming that she has recovered memories of early childhood sexual abuse that diminished her responsibility for killing her boyfriend.
Andrews, 35, was convicted in 2001 of murdering her lover, Tom Cressman. She hit Cressman with a bat and then stabbed him to death.
At trial Andrews offered a number of claims, including that Cressman was abusive and that she had suffered sexual abuse as a child, but a jury convicted her and she was sentenced to life.
While in prison, Andrews underwent psychiatric therapy and now claims that she has recovered repressed memories of sexual assault by her brother when she was aged 8 to 12. The brother denies the accusations.
Andrews now claims that Cressman had sexual assaulted her, that she feared he would do it again, and that her repressed fears of childhood sexual abuse boiled up and led her to kill him.
Government attorney Bruce Houlder, however, said that Andrews “has consistently lied, has changed her accounts and now seeks to get a new trial on the basis of something she could perfectly reasonably have run at the time of the trial.”
Source:
Ex-royal dresser tells appeal of ‘unlocked’ abuse. John Steele, Daily Telegraph, September 24, 2003.
Tags: Great Britain
Elizabeth Loftus on Critics of Her False Memory Research
New Scientist recently conducted a lengthy interview with Elizabeth Loftus about the effects, both person and professional, of the work she has done on studying how false memories can be implanted in subjects.
One of the best parts of the interview was her excellent dismissal of those who attempt to discredit her work with the silliest of claims,
New Scientist: Some researchers argue that you can’t compare such experiments [with college students] to cases of repressed memories of child sexual abuse . . .
Loftus: It challenges their cherished beliefs to say that some of these accusations might be false, so they find whatever ways they can to discredit the work. They say: “They’re just college students”, “They’re just lost in a mall, not being sexually abused”, or “It got implanted through imagination and not through psychotherapy.” But when thousands of psychologists study the human mind, we don’t think we’re only studying college students sitting in a lab. We think we are studying principles that apply to a variety of human beings in a variety of settings. It’s as if somebody said: “You’ve shown that if you shoot somebody in the head with a pistol they die, but you haven’t shown that if you shoot them in the head with a pistol and in a bowling alley, they die.”
Source:
Remember this . . . New Scientist, undated.
Tags: Elizabeth Loftus
British Psychiatrist Accused in False Memory Case
British child psychiatrist John eastgate is facing professional misconduct charges over an incident in which he apparently led a young girl to falsely believe that she had been a victim of sexual abuse.
Eastgate conducted counseling sessions with the 13-year-old girl beginning in 1996. Her parents suspected she was suffering from anorexia. Eastgate diagnosed the girl with depression and prescribed anti-depressants for her.
He also used a series of leading questions and preconceived views to lead the girl to believe she had been sexually assaulted by an endocrinologist at the age of 9. The girl saw an endocrinologist because she had grown extremely tall, and the doctor prescribed estrogen to induce early puberty. Part of the treatment meant regular visits to the doctor to monitor breast and pubic hair growth to assess the effects of the estrogen.
After counseling sessions with Eastgate, the girl claimed that she had been sexually assaulted by the endocrinologist. Eastgate then contacted police and the girl was removed from her home. But the case against the endocrinologist was quickly dropped after it turned out the girl had been accompanied by a female relative on all of her visits to him, and they never witnessed any behavior that wasn’t strictly clinical in nature.
After more counseling session, the girl then accused three other men of sexually abusing her, including her father. The girl later retracted those claims as well.
Source:
Sex abuse questions criticized. Oliver Wright, The Times (London), September 3, 2003.
Doctor on misconduct charges claims he did nothing wrong. This is Wiltshire, September 4, 2003.
Girl ‘Told Psychiatrist Of Sex Abuse By Professor’. Ju-Lin Tan, Press Association, September 4, 2003.
How I questioned girl, by ‘false memory’ doctor. Patrick McGowan, The Evening Standard (London), September 4, 2003.
Doctor ‘led girl to believe she was sex abuse victim.’ Richard Alleyne, Daily Telegraph (London), September 2, 2003.
Janet Reno Urges Better Domestic Violence Enforcement — Be Afraid, Very Afraid
The Toledo Blade reported in April that former U.S. attorney general Janet Reno called for increased enforcement to combat domestic violence.
Reno pointed out that when she was state attorney general for Dade County, Florida, she made domestic violence a priority. Reno did not mention that she also railroaded a number of defendants in the 1980s when she was Dade County chief prosecutor as part of the nationwide hysteria over child sex abuse (see Frontline’s excellent site about the Dade County prosecutions).
Reno asked an audience at the University of Toledo, “If we cannot have peace in our homes, where can we have peace in our world?”
But if we cannot have justice in our courts, how can we have it in our world? Reno allowed herself and her office to be caught up in a hysterical movement and innocent men paid the price. Punish men and women who engage in violence against loved ones by all means, but resist falling prey to demagogues like Reno who pervert justice to further their own careers.
Source:
Janet Reno urges better effort against domestic violence. Toledo Blade, April 8, 2003.
Tags: Janet Reno
Does New Research Lend Credence to Recovered Memory Theory?
Research conducted by Michael Anderson and Collin Green at the University of Oregon is being touted as confirming Sigmund Freud’s theory of repression and, in turn, recovered memories of childhood abuse. But does the new study really provide support for recovered memories? Not really.
In the study, college students were asked to learn pairs of words that had loosely connected meanings. The students practiced the word pairs so that when they heard the first word they could recall the second word from memory.
Some of the students were asked to actively work to forget the word pairs, and in fact in later testing they had a much harder time remembering the word pairs than those students who were told to actively try to remember the word pairs.
What the researchers have demonstrated is hardly controversial — human beings can forget things. In fact we almost certainly have to forget things. Do you remember what you had for breakfast three weeks ago? Probably not. Could you forget what you had for breakfast this morning much more quickly if you actively tried to forget? According to this study, probably.
That, however, is a very long way from a full blown defense of Freudian repression (which has completely unscientific foundations to begin with), and light years from demonstrating that recovered memory is anything but a hoax.
The key with recovered memory, after all, is the claim that memories of traumatic events that have been forgotten can be recalled as long as decades later with incredible clarity and accuracy. When it comes to the accuracy of memory, there are dozens of studies demonstrating that memory is extremely malleable over time and that the process of remembering is an evolving, ongoing process rather than a straightforward sort of data retrieval envisioned by many advocates of recovered memory.
Source:
Some choose to lose memory. Helen Pearson, Nature, March 15, 2001.
Betty Raidor, Victim of McMartin Preschool Hysteria, Dead at 81
Betty Raidor, 81, died recently of complications from a heart attack at her Bakersfield, California, home. Raidor was part of one of the most bizarre legal proceedings in U.S. history.
After children at the McMartin Preschool accused her and others of committing rape, sodomy, animal sacrifice as part of satanic rituals, Raidor and six other defendants were charged with numerous counts of child molestation. Their pretrial hearing phase lasted an astounding 18 months — the longest ever for a criminal trial in the United States — before all charges against all but two of the defendants were dropped.
Although charges against Raymond Buckey and his mother, Virginia McMartin, went forward and Los Angeles County alone spent $13.5 million prosecuting the cases, ultimately not a single person was ever convicted from any charge stemming from the McMartin case.
It did however ruin many lives, including Raidor’s who was financially ruined by the cost of mounting a defense and who found herself to be a pariah in her community. The case also helped bring to national attention ultimately false claims of vast underground networks of Satanic cults.
Contacted by The Daily Breeze about Raidor’s death, Charles Buckey — Raymond Buckey’s father — lashed out against the wrongful prosecution of Raidor and others.
How can you put something like that behind you when you lost all your property and everything you have is gone? Can you imagine that happening to a person who is a grandmother? They lost everything they had. The media did everything in its power to find those people guilty. And there were a lot of people in Manhattan Beach who thought they were guilty.
Source:
McMartin defendant Betty Raidor dies. Josh Grossberg, The Daily Breeze, February 23, 2001.