Characteristics and Sources of Allegations of Ritualistic Child Abuse

    Grant No. 90CA1405

    Final Report to the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect



    Gail S. Goodman

    Principal Investigator

    University of California, Davis

    In Collaboration with:

    Jianjian Qin

    University of California, Davis

    Bette L. Bottoms

    University of Illinois at Chicago

    Phillip R. Shaver

    University of California, Davis






    Running head: RITUALISTIC CHILD ABUSE

    Address correspondence to:

    Dr. Gail S. Goodman
    Department of Psychology
    University of California, Davis
    Young Hall
    Davis, CA 95616


    The research reported here was conducted in collaboration with Alexis Thompson
    and with the assistance of Kathleen Beety, Jim Brandt, Kathy Cavanaugh, Greg
    Clark, Eugene Colucci, Maureen Coughlin, Leslie Dreblat, Brian Flaherty, Erica
    Howard, Noella Kardos, Todd Karl, Wendy Landman, Holly Orcutt, Anne Orgren,
    Kimberly Packard, Steve Pawlowski, Chowdry Pinnamaneni, Jodi Quas, Susan
    Reisch, Chris Rhoadhouse, Karleen Robinson, Julie Rothbard, Cheryl Shapiro,
    and Tracey Schneider. Tina Brown and Michael Raulin kindly consulted on the
    use of DSM diagnostic categories. Phil Stevens provided valuable
    consultation.



    Ritual Abuse Allegations 2

    Abstract


    The main goal of this project was to investigate the characteristics and

    sources of allegations of ritualistic child abuse. To accomplish this goal, a

    series of studies was conducted. One study consisted of a stratified random

    sample survey of clinical members of the American Psychological Association,

    American Psychiatric Association, and National Association of Social Workers.

    In a second study, a similar survey was sent to county-level district

    attorneys' offices, social service agencies, and law enforcement offices.

    These studies were conducted primarily to determine the number and nature of

    cases involving alleged ritualistic child abuse reported to clinicians and

    agencies nationwide. However, for comparison purposes, we also included

    questions about allegations of religion-related abuse more generally. Results

    indicated that the purported evidence for claims of ritualistic abuse,

    especially in cases involving alleged adult survivors of satanic cult

    activity, is questionable. In contract, convincing evidence was available for

    a variety of types of religion-related abuse (e.g., withholding of medical

    care, abuse by religious officials, such as priests). A third study concerned

    the subset of cases from Study 1 that included claims of "repressed memory" of

    ritual and religion-related abuse. Reports of repressed memory of ritual

    abuse made by "adult-survivors" were found to be particularly extreme,

    especially when the adult survivor claimed to be both a victim and perpetrator

    of abuse. In a fourth study, we examined children's knowledge of satanic

    abuse. This laboratory-based study indicated that although the children we

    tested possessed stereotypic knowledge about the devil and crime, they did not

    evidence knowledge of satanic activity associated with child sexual abuse.

    Overall, these findings argue against the possibility that children are likely

    to invent stories on satanic sexual abuse on their own. Finally, in Study 5

    we examined in detail three types of religion-related child abuse (i.e.,

    beating the devil out of a child, abuse by clergy, and medical neglect).

    Overall, more convincing evidence of religion-related abuse than satanic

    ritual abuse was found. Implications of the findings of the five studies for

    forensic interviewing, clinical practice, and future research are discussed.



    Ritual Abuse Allegations 3

    Executive Summary

    One of the most shocking and baffling claims to emerge from American
    society's recent confrontation with child abuse is that satanic or ritualistic
    abuse has been occurring for decades and is still widespread. Hundreds of
    children and adults have reported abuse involving multiple perpetrators;
    intergenerational cults; and quasi-religious rituals complete with grotesque
    sexual assaults, human sacrifice, cannibalism, and consumption of blood,
    urine, and excrement (Feldman, 1993; Gould, 1987; Kahaner, 1988; Raschke,
    1990; Wright, 1993). Law enforcement professionals have responded with
    seminars in which satanic crime "experts" recount classic cases, summarize the
    history of the occult, and explain how to identify satanic activity. State
    legislatures have passed special laws targeting this kind of crime, and mental
    health professionals have held countless conferences and workshops in which
    experts discuss how to recognize and treat "ritual abuse." Books by
    psychotherapists, from Michelle Remembers(Smith & Pazder, 1980) to Lessons in
    Evil. Lessons from the Light    (Feldman, 1993) have stirred the interest of
    mental health professionals, journalists, and the general public.

    However, what amounts for believers to a major and rising threat to
    society (Jonker & Jonker-Bakker, 1991) is discounted by skeptics as an example
    of urban legend, cultural fear, and societal rumor (Stevens, 1992; Victor,
    1991) or as an example of children's and adults' suggestibility (Loftus,
    1992). The lack of corroborative evidence for the extreme allegations
    involved in satanic ritual abuse claims has caused scientists and courts to
    question the credibility of child and adult witnesses who make such
    allegations (e.g., Felix and Ontiveros v. Nevada, 1993). As a result, there
    is increasing risk that actual victims of abuse, especially sexual abuse, will
    not be believed.

    Of special significance to mental health professionals is the claim that
    many cases of alleged ritual abuse, and repressed memories of such abuse,
    emerge in the context of psychotherapy. This has led skeptical social
    scientists (e.g., Lindsay & Read, 1994; Richardson, Best, & Bromley, 1991) to
    doubt the competence and wisdom of psychotherapists and the advisability of
    using certain therapeutic methods, such as hypnosis, and diagnostic categories
    such as multiple personality disorder (MPD).

    Surprisingly, given the multifaceted impact on American society of ritual
    abuse claims, little scientific research on this topic exists. We thus
    undertook in a series of studies to examine such questions as: What are the
    characteristics of allegations of ritual abuse? How often are professionals
    confronted with such allegations in their practices? Does solid evidence
    exist to substantiate the more extreme forms of abuse (including murder) often
    included in satanic abuse allegations? Do children possess the knowledge to
    create false reports of satanic ritual abuse? How do adults' and children's
    reports of such abuse compare to reports of other forms of abuse that are
    related to religious beliefs?

    Goals and Objectives

    The main goal of this project was to investigate the characteristics and
    sources of allegations of ritualistic child abuse made during the 1980s and
    early 1990s in the United States. To accomplish this goal, a series of
    studies was conducted. One study consisted of a stratified random-sample
    survey of clinical members of the American Psychological Association, American
    Psychiatric Association, and National Association of Social Workers. In a
    second study, a similar survey was sent to district attorneys' offices, social
    service departments, and law enforcement agencies. A third study compared the
    subset of cases from Study 1 in which repressed memory of ritual abuse was
    alleged with cases in which repressed memory was not at issue. Children's
    knowledge of satanic abuse was investigated in the fourth study. Finally, in
    Study 5, we examined in detail the religion-related cases we uncovered.

    Study 1

    The goal of Study 1 was to sample clinicians who might work with ritual
    and religion-related abuse cases and to ask them a wide variety of questions
    about such cases. The study consisted of two phases: a postcard survey to
    identify clinicians who had encountered relevant cases in their clinical




    Ritual Abuse Allegations 4

    practice and a detailed survey to obtain more complete information about their
    cases.

    For the postcard survey, 19,272 postcards were mailed, 5,998 to
    clinical psychologists (APs) who were members of the American Psychological
    Association, 7,381 to psychiatrists (MDs) who were members of the American
    Psychiatric Association, and 5,896 to social workers (SWs) who were members of
    the National Association of Social Workers. Each clinician received a cover
    letter explaining that we were interested in child abuse allegations involving
    ritualistic or religious practices. Respondents were asked to report the
    number of such cases they had encountered during the 1980s.

    There were 6,910 (35.86%) valid respondents; of the valid respondents,
    2,709 were clinical psychologists, 2,071 were psychiatrists, and 2,130 were
    social workers. Of the 6,910 valid respondents, 2,136 (30.91%) reported that
    they had encountered at least one ritual or religion-related abuse case. The
    majority of those who had encountered any kind of case had encountered only
    one or two, yet a few respondents (1.4% of those reporting any cases)
    indicated that they had encountered more than a hundred cases.
    Only 13% encountered adult-survivor cases of ritual abuse and only 11%
    encountered child cases.

    To gather information about specific cases, a detailed questionnaire
    was sent to clinicians who had encountered at least one case. Each respondent
    was asked to provide information about up to 8 ritual or religion-related
    cases. Respondents were instructed to select typical or representative cases
    to reflect the proportions of ritual and religion-related cases, and of child
    and adult survivor cases if they had encountered more than 8 cases. The
    issues covered by the detailed questionnaire included the number of cases
    encountered, case features, characteristics of victims and perpetrators, abuse
    settings, legal pursuit and outcome of each case, case disclosure
    circumstances, case evidence, respondents' degree of acceptance of the claims,
    and their experiences with ritual abuse workshops and seminars.

    A total of 2,136 detailed questionnaires were sent out. Of these 797
    (37.31%) were returned. There were 720 valid respondents, of whom 297 were
    clinical psychologists, 200 were psychiatrists, and 223 were social workers.
    These respondents provided information about a total of 1,652 cases of ritual
    or religion-related child abuse reported by either adult survivor or child
    clients. After eliminating cases in which the client was not a victim, our
    analyses were based on 1,548 cases, of which 387 were child ritual cases, 674
    were adult survivor ritual cases, 171 were child religion-related cases, and
    234 were adult survivor religion-related cases.

    Our findings indicated that adult ritual cases were consistently the
    most extreme. For example, adult survivor cases involved mare types of abuse
    than child cases, and adult survivor cases were particularly likely to involve
    severe forms of abuse, such as murder (which was rarely reported in religion-
    related cases). In addition, 33% of adult ritual cases involved such extreme
    acts as cannibalism, and 28% of adult ritual cases involved baby breeding for
    ritual sacrifice. Adult ritual cases also involved the highest numbers of
    victims and perpetrators. However, these results were often affected by
    "outliers," suggesting that there were a few outlier respondents who reported
    cases with particularly high numbers of victims and perpetrators. Ritual
    abuse cases were very likely to involve parents, acquaintances, and strangers
    as the alleged perpetrators; religion-related cases were more likely to be
    committed by persons in a position of trust.

    Victims in adult ritual cases, especially in adult ritual cases reported
    by MDs, were the most likely to be diagnosed as suffering from MPD. Cases
    reported by psychiatrists were also more likely to involve bizarre and extreme
    features than cases reported by either clinical psychologists or social
    workers. These findings may emanate, at least in part, from the fact that we
    oversampled psychiatrists who specialize in dissociative disorders.

    How was the abuse disclosed? Overall, child cases were far more likely
    to be disclosed to authorities or professionals, to family members or
    neighbors, and to be linked to corroborative evidence, but were less likely to
    be disclosed in therapy than adult cases. In adult cases, disclosure was



    Ritual Abuse Allegations 5

    particularly likely to have occurred in therapy (especially in therapy with
    MDs). However, this pattern held for both ritual and religion-related cases.

    Of particular importance to debates about ritual abuse is whether or not
    solid evidence of satanic cult abuse of children exists. We thus asked
    respondents to describe any corroborative evidence for the ritual or religion-
    related case elements. We included all relevant evidence in our analysis
    regardless of its quality. Moreover, it was possible that the ritual or
    religion-related case elements were false or faked, but the case nevertheless
    involved true abuse. To explore this possibility, we asked respondents to
    describe any corroborative evidence for the abuse/harm itself.

    Regarding evidence of ritual or religion-related elements, child cases
    usually involved more evidence than adult cases. There was no significant
    difference between ritual and religion-related cases regarding such evidence;
    however, more evidence would have been expected for adult ritual cases, given
    the extreme allegations involved. Regarding evidence of abuse/harm, child
    cases were more likely to involve such evidence than adult cases. There were
    no significant overall differences between ritual and religion-related cases
    with respect to evidence of abuse/harm, except that religion-related cases
    more often involved perpetrator confessions. However, child religion-related
    cases were more likely to involve evidence of abuse/harm than cases in any
    other category. Child religion-related cases were also the most likely type
    of case to lead to affirmative legal outcomes while adult ritual cases were
    least likely to lead to affirmative legal outcomes.

    When the evidence involved in ritual abuse cases was examined in more
    detail, it tended either to be ambiguous or to be reported by clinicians who
    were outliers on other variables. For instance, there was no hard evidence
    for intergenerational satanic cults that sexually abuse children. There was,
    however, evidence in a few "borderline" cases, typically involving a lone
    individual or two people whose abuse of children involved satanic themes. In
    contrast, convincing evidence of religion-related abuse was often found. The
    following quotations (each from a different respondent) convey graphically
    what it means for there to be concrete evidence of religion-related child
    abuse:
    "My client was a 14-year-old boy whose eyeball had been plucked out of
    his head in an exorcism ceremony. The abuse was disclosed when, shortly
    after the incident, the child was admitted to the hospital emergency
    room. The fundamentalist minister acknowledged religious intent, and he
    was convicted. . . . I have never encountered a ritual abuse case but
    have encountered many religion-related cases."

    "The father performed an exorcism on his children by dismembering and
    then boiling them. Evidence? The children were dead."

    "I saw the daughter of a woman who had thought her 12-year-old boy was
    possessed by the devil. The woman had had an incestuous relationship
    with the boy. . . . She decapitated him and had the daughter help her
    move the body--the daughter took the head and the mother took the body.
    Parts of the story were published in the local newspaper."
    In contrast to these vivid examples of religion-related abuse, there was
    little concrete, publicly documented evidence for ritual claims, whether made
    by children or adults. Most respondents cited their patient's reports or
    behaviors; for example, "only patient's disclosure via hypnotherapy," and
    "play behavior, drawings, fear of satanic symbols." One respondent cited as
    evidence the Ritual Abuse Behavior Checklist--a questionable diagnostic
    checklist which includes many behaviors common to childhood (Gould, 1986; see
    Hicks, 1991). In only a few cases was physical evidence mentioned--usually
    "scars." For example, one respondent wrote, "scars on right hand--a very
    small pentagram on her wrist and very faint double cross on hack of her hand."
    Another respondent wrote of a case in which victims were allegedly branded
    with a symbol associated with the devil. However, a third respondent's
    comments illustrate problems with accepting clients' claims of scarring:
    "Three adult siblings described patterned marks burned on genitals, but
    medical examination revealed no scars." Even when there were scars, it was
    not determined whether the victims themselves had caused them.



    Ritual Abuse Allegations 6

    Some respondents cited evidence of ritualistic or satanic elements that
    was suggestive but not conclusive: "black clothing, devil symbols written
    everywhere," "there was a strange altar in the house." A few described cases
    of abuse motivated by pornography, mentioning "pictures" as evidence of the
    ritual aspects but failing to describe the nature of the pictures. In
    contrast, according to the FBI, no pornography illustrating child abuse
    involving satanic rituals has ever been confiscated by federal authorities in
    the United States (Farley, 1993; Lanning, 1992). In one case involving the
    documented death of an infant, the respondent noted that the police
    "investigated" Satanic cult involvement, but the outcome was not mentioned.

    It is important to note, however, that a few cases were reported to us
    that might qualify as ritual abuse and for which there was evidence. For
    example, one respondent reported a documented case in which a male and a
    female perpetrator were convicted of sexually abusing two victims. The case
    was classified as ritualistic because the perpetrators took the victims to a
    desert and frightened them with an exhibition of animal bones. In other
    cases, there was apparently good evidence for ritually tinged brutality, but
    not in the context of an organized cult; for example:
    "Over the last 8 years I have evaluated 700+ and supervised 500+ cases
    of alleged sexual abuse for forensic purposes. I've provided therapy to
    150+ victims and 300+ sex offenders. Out of all these cases, only one
    sex offender was engaged in satanic activities, but his offenses seemed
    to be independent brutal assaults."
    In general, the ritual cases with the most convincing evidence were unlike the
    satanic ritual abuse stereotype.

    Do clinicians believe their clients claims of abuse? Our results
    indicated that respondents overwhelmingly believed both the allegations of
    abuse and the allegations of ritual or religious elements of the abuse.
    Regarding allegations of abuse/harm itself, respondents more readily accepted
    abuse allegations in adult cases than in child cases. Also, they were quicker
    to accept abuse/harm allegations in religion-related cases than in ritual
    cases. Social workers had the highest rate of acceptance of abuse allegations
    among all professions, while MDs had the lowest rate of acceptance. There
    were no significant differences regarding the acceptance of ritual and
    religion-related aspects of the allegations. Overall, regardless of these
    differences, respondents' acceptance of both the allegations of abuse/harm and
    the allegations of ritual and religion-related case elements was very high.

    In summary, a very small group of clinicians, each claiming to have
    treated scores of cases, accounted for most of the reports of ritualistic
    child abuse. Reports by adult survivors were particularly extreme, involving
    acts such as murder, which should have left some traces of hard evidence.
    However, hard evidence for satanic ritual abuse, especially abuse involving
    large cults, was scant to nonexistent. Evidence for lone perpetrators or very
    small groups (e.g., two people) who abuse children in ways that include
    satanic themes was uncovered, although such abuse was infrequent. More common
    was religion-related abuse (e.g., beating the devil out of a child, abuse by
    clergy); for religion-related abuse, convincing evidence was often found.

    Study 2

    In Study 2, we surveyed members of agencies that deal with allegations of
    child abuse. Specifically, the same questionnaire employed in Study 1 was
    sent to the offices of all county-level District Attorneys (DAs) and
    Departments of Social Services (SS), and to municipal Law Enforcement agencies
    (LAW). However, we restricted this part of our study to child cases only
    (that is, cases in which the abuse was reported before the child turned 18
    years of age).

    A total of 21,605 postcard surveys were mailed (2,690 to DAs, 3,056 to
    SS, and 15,859 to LAW). There were 4,655 valid respondents (a 21.55% return
    rate). The number of valid respondents was 706 for DAs (a 26.25% return
    rate), 1,037 for SS (a 33.93% return rate), and 2,912 from LAW (a 18.36%
    return rate). Although the response rate was particularly low for LAW and the
    results must be interpreted accordingly, it should be noted that, because the
    majority of the surveys were sent to law enforcement agencies, the total



    Ritual Abuse Allegations 7

    number of responses and cases reported by them was still substantial.

    Across the three types of agencies, a total of 1,079 (23.18%) of all
    valid respondents reported that they had encountered at least one ritual or
    religion-related case. The majority of those who had encountered any kind of
    cases had encountered only one or two, yet a few respondents (2.22% of those
    reporting any cases) indicated that they had encountered more than a hundred
    cases.

    The rates of encountering ritual or religion-related cases differed
    across agencies, with SS experiencing the highest rates and LAW experiencing
    the lowest rates. The rates also differed across geographical regions.
    Agencies in Pacific and Mountain regions were mare likely to have encountered
    such cases, while the East North Central region and New England had the lowest
    rates. However, where at least one case had been encountered, the number of
    cases encountered by respondents did not differ significantly among agencies
    and regions.

    To gather specific information about the reported ritual and religion-
    related child abuse cases, all respondents who had reported encountering one
    or more cases in the postcard survey were sent a detailed questionnaire. This
    questionnaire was identical to the one used in Study 1 except that items
    specific to adult cases were omitted. A total of 1,079 detailed survey
    questionnaires were sent: 213 to DA, 457 to SS, and 409 to LAW.

    There were 266 valid returns (a 24.65% return rate). The number of
    valid respondents was 55 for DA (a 25.82% return rate), 118 for SS (a 25.82%
    return rate), and 93 for LAW (a 22.74% return rate). These respondents
    reported specific information about 739 personally encountered cases, of which.
    296 were religion-related cases and 412 were ritual cases (31 cases remained
    unclassified). Thus, our reported results were based on 739 cases.

    Like clinicians, agencies reported that ritual abuse cases involved
    claims of particularly severe abuse. Regarding the number of abuse types
    allegedly involved in each case, ritual cases involved more types of abuse
    than religion-related cases. Contradictory to the belief that many bizarre
    cases are reported by SS, our results indicated that the cases reported by SS
    were less likely to involve extreme case features as compared to cases
    reported by DA or LAW.

    Ritual abuse is often described as involving multiple perpetrators and
    victims, and relatively high numbers of female perpetrators and male victims.
    We therefore examined these features of the cases reported to us.
    Surprisingly, our data from agencies indicated that there was no difference
    between ritual and religion-related cases regarding the number of victims,
    either when victims of both genders were considered or only female victims
    were considered. When perpetrators were considered regardless of gender,
    ritual cases involved more perpetrators than religion-related cases. The
    majority of religion-related cases were committed by parents or persons in a
    position of trust: stranger and acquaintance abuse was very infrequent.
    Allegations against an acquaintance or a stranger were more common in ritual
    than in religion-related cases.

    DAs, SS, and LAW were all involved in investigations of ritual and
    religion-related abuse cases in the decade of the 1980s. However, SS and LAW
    investigation was more common than DA investigation. Religion-related cases
    involved more social service investigation than ritual cases. We also
    examined the legal outcomes of the cases. Overall, there was little
    difference between cases involving ritual and religion-related allegations,
    with the only exception being for plea bargains: religion-related cases were
    more likely to result in a plea bargain than ritual cases. There were no
    significant differences between ritual and religion-related cases concerning
    other case outcomes, such as arrest, dismissal, trial, conviction, or
    acquittal. Surprisingly, the conviction rate in ritual cases was almost as
    high as in religion-related cases.

    Religion-related cases were more likely to involve evidence of religion-
    related or ritual case elements than ritual cases. Furthermore, religion-
    related cases were more often associated with medical evidence and perpetrator
    confessions. In fact, none of the ritual cases reported by DAs and SS yielded



    Ritual Abuse Allegations 8

    any medical evidence linked to the ritual or religion-related case elements.
    Our results also indicated that ritual cases were more likely to produce
    physical evidence than religion-related cases. However, the most frequently
    mentioned physical evidence included satanic symbols, books, artifacts,
    paraphernalia, etc. Other physical evidence included tatoos, drawings, scars
    on a child's or adult's body, film, photos, ritual dolls, masks, costumes,
    etc. Cases reported by SS were less likely than cases reported by DAs or LAW
    to involve physical evidence of ritual or religion-related elements of abuse.

    As stated earlier, it was possible that the ritual or religion-related
    case elements were false or faked, but the case nevertheless involved true
    abuse or harm to a child. To explore this possibility, we asked respondents
    to describe any corroborative evidence for the abuse/harm itself. Religion-
    related cases were more likely than ritual cases to involve evidence of
    abuse/harm. The results also suggested that cases reported by SS were the
    least likely to involve evidence. Religion-related cases were more likely
    than ritual cases to involve medical evidence and perpetrator confession as
    evidence of abuse. Thus, in general, our results indicated that religion-
    related cases were more likely than ritual cases to involve evidence of
    abuse/harm and evidence of ritual or religion-related aspects of abuse. The
    only exception was that ritual cases involved more physical evidence of ritual
    or religion-related case elements. When there was a significant difference
    among cases reported by different agencies, cases reported by SS involved less
    evidence than cases reported by either DAs or LAW.

    Overwhelmingly, respondents from agencies believed both the ritual abuse
    and the religion-related abuse allegations. Nevertheless, respondents showed
    a higher acceptance of the validity of allegations of religion-related abuse
    than of ritual abuse. Regarding the ritual and religious elements of the
    abuse, respondents from SS showed the highest level of acceptance while DAs
    and LAW were slightly more reserved about the ritual aspects of the claims;
    however, DAs showed the highest level of acceptance of the religion-related
    aspects of the allegations.

    Study 3

    Study 3 examined an issue of much current concern, whether or not
    victims of childhood abuse can repress and later recover memories of early
    traumatic experiences. A number of the adult-survivor cases mentioned by our
    clinical respondents involved allegations of ritual abuse in which memory of
    horrendous abuse was said to have been repressed for many years. It was thus
    of interest to identify and examine this subset of cases. Concerns about
    false memories of childhood victimization are particularly likely to arise
    when a case involves repressed memory for alleged acts of satanic ritual
    abuse. Pew studies have directly examined the characteristics of such cases
    and the circumstances under which repressed memories of satanic ritual abuse
    are recovered.

    The analyses were based on 490 cases from Study 1, of which 43 were
    repressed memory (RM) cases and 447 were no repressed memory (NRM) cases. In
    most of the cases, the client's only role was as the victim of abuse. These
    cases were referred to as single-role cases. In other cases, the client was a
    victim but also occupied other roles, such as perpetrator, relative of a
    victim, etc. These cases were referred to as multiple-role cases.

    Findings indicated that RM cases, especially those in which multiple
    role clients were involved, were more likely to be ritual cases than NRM
    cases. Of the mere extreme abuse features indicated on our survey,
    respondents were more likely to indicate the abuse feature in RM cases and
    multiple-role cases than in NRM cases and single-role cases, respectively.

    Respondents indicated whether their cases included sexual abuse,
    physical abuse, psychological abuse, murder, or neglect. A composite abuse-
    type score was created for each case to measure the number of kinds of abuse
    involved in each case. RM cases involved more types of abuse than NRM cases,
    with more RM and multiple-role cases involving each type of abuse than NRM and
    single-role cases, respectively. The numbers of victims and perpetrators were
    larger in RM cases and multiple-role cases than in NRM cases and single-role
    cases, respectively. However, most of the significant differences were caused



    Ritual Abuse Allegations 9

    by a few outlier cases.

    The alleged abuse began earlier and lasted longer in RM cases than in
    NRM cases. The alleged abuse in multiple-role RM cases ended significantly
    later than in any other kind of case. RM cases included more diagnoses of MPD
    and eating disorder but fewer diagnoses of PTSD and personality disorder than
    NRM cases. The high proportion of MPD diagnoses in RM cases was striking: 68%
    of the clients in RM cases were diagnosed with MPD. Moreover, multiple-role
    cases included mora diagnoses of MPD than single-role cases.

    Overall, the results indicated that although RM cases involved more
    evidence for abuse than NRM cases, they produced no more evidence for ritual
    and religion-related aspects of the abuse than NRM cases. Close examination
    of the evidence involved in RM cases indicated that the evidence clinicians
    reported was generally weak and ambiguous.

    Specifically, when we further examined the exact nature of the evidence
    involved in RM cases, there were 16 RM cases involving evidence for the
    abuse/harm itself; in three there was corroborative evidence; in one, physical
    evidence, and in the other 12, medical evidence. The reported physical
    evidence was "Client talks of cemetery which we visited. She showed me
    babies' graves before she was close enough to read tombstones." What the
    respondent implied here was that the client must have known about the babies'
    graves from satanic ritual activity, but surely the client could have become
    familiar with the cemetery in other ways. As for the 12 repressed memory
    cases with medical evidence, 7 were reported by one respondent who stated "no
    supporting evidence other than scars, etc." Another 3 cases, also reported by
    one respondent, had "MPD, scars on body; ongoing attempts by cult to recontact
    patient." The other two cases had evidence such as "scars and marks on body
    areas patient unable to reach; carved symbols patient would be unable to self-
    inflict" and "patient memory, unable to have children; wagon wheel, electric
    prods up vagina, drugs, blood." In some of these cases, the alleged abuse
    started from the birth of the victimized child in the 1940s or 1950s and was
    allegedly still occurring when the respondent dealt with the case. Over 100
    victims (M= 134) and many perpetrators (M= 84) were said to be involved.
    Almost all types of abuse included in our list had allegedly occurred (M=
    4.75). Nearly all of the ritual case features, such as rituals using human or
    animal excrement or blood, torture and sacrifice or killing of humans,
    cannibalism, child pornography, forced participation in or observation of
    sexual practices, etc. were supposedly involved in these cases. Yet despite
    the extreme brutality of the alleged abuse and the large number of people
    involved, the beat evidence consisted of scars on the body, which by
    themselves do not unambiguously point to satanic ritual abuse. For example,
    even if these scars resulted from abuse, which is open to question, the abuse
    might not have included any satanic ritual component.

    Regarding evidence of ritual and religion-related elements of abuse, only
    four repressed memory cases in our sample were bolstered by evidence;
    corroborative evidence in one case and physical evidence in the other three
    cases. The case with corroborative evidence was a religion-related case: the
    client's friend remembered the abusing priest's name, the client's brother
    remembered specifics about the setting, but none of them corroborated the
    alleged abuse. The physical evidence for the other three cases included,
    respectively: (a) "detailed description of articles used and ritual"; (b)
    "voodoo dolls found, witchcraft"; (c) "satanic symbols carved on abdomen and
    limbs." None of the evidence indicated the existence of the bizarre and
    horrible satanic ritual abuse scenarios which allegedly occurred in many RM
    cases.

    Analyses were also conducted on evidence scores after outlier cases were
    excluded. With outlier cases excluded, the significant effects of case type
    {RM vs. NRM) disappeared, with the only exception being physical evidence for
    ritual and religious aspects of abuse.

    Despite lack of strong evidence, respondents overwhelmingly tended to
    believe their clients' claims both of abuse/harm and of the ritual or
    religious aspects of the alleged abuse. Respondents' validity judgments of
    allegations of abuse/harm were related to the amount of evidence of abuse.



    Ritual Abuse Allegations 10

    However, importantly, their judgments of allegations of ritual and religion-
    related elements were related to the number of bizarre features involved in
    the case and victims' age when the alleged abuse began, but not to evidence of
    ritual and religious elements of abuse.

    Study 4

    One important goal of our survey studies was to determine the source of
    allegations of ritualistic child abuse. In addition to conducting survey
    research, we also approached this goal in a laboratory study concerning
    children's knowledge of satanic themes.

    Some professionals who are skeptical of children's allegations of
    ritual abuse argue that children's suggestibility is the basis of false
    reports. In contrast, professionals who believe children's allegations of
    ritual abuse often assume that children could recount such events only if they
    had indeed experienced them, and that children could not simply "make up" such
    stories. Thus, one important research question is whether children have the
    necessary knowledge base to create false allegations of ritual abuse.

    The main goal of Study 4 was to explore the extent of children's
    knowledge of ritualistic child abuse. We were also interested in possible
    precursors to such knowledge as well as in children's knowledge of more
    positive religious symbols. We thus interviewed children about their
    knowledge of concepts such as the devil, hell, and heaven; their
    interpretations of drawings and symbols with satanic associations; and their
    knowledge of media that depict frightening or satanic activity. We included
    children from two religious groups, Protestant and Catholic, to examine the
    influence of religious education on their knowledge.

    For the study, 12 children representing four age groups were questioned:
    3- and 4-year-olds, 7- and S-year-olds, 11- and 12-year-olds, and 15- and 16-
    year-olds. The main measure was a ritual knowledge questionnaire devised
    specifically for the present study. It contains six sections. The first
    section includes questions that probe for children's general knowledge of
    heaven, hell, God, the devil, witches, and angels. The open-ended questions
    concern the referent figures'/places' location and activities; how one gets to
    heaven or hell; and whether God, the devil, witches, or angels are like
    humans. The second section is composed of questions concerning whether
    children have seen various television shows and movies and what they think the
    movies or television shows are about. Various children's shows (e.g., Home
    Alone), religious shows (e.g., The Greatest Story Ever Told, Moses and the 10
    Commandments), non-satanic horror shows (e.g., Freddie's Nightmares), and
    Satanic shows (e.g., The Seventh Sign, The Exorcist) are included. The next
    section of the ritual knowledge questionnaire contains questions about record
    albums from either singing groups or movie soundtracks. The questions concern
    what the album cover shows and what sort of music is included in the album.
    The albums include religious music (e.g., Walt Whitman and the Soul Children
    of Chicago), children's music (e.g., soundtrack from Lady and the Tramp),
    nonreligious music (e.g., Janet Jackson), and Satanic music (e.g., Slayer,
    Ozzy Ozbourne). For the fourth section, children are asked to identify
    pictures of religious symbols (e.g., Crucifix, Christian all-seeing eye), one
    nonreligious symbol (a smiley face), and satanic symbols (e.g., inverted
    cross, pentagram, peace sign). Four questions are included in the fifth
    section. Two questions concern what a person would do if the devil tempted
    him/her to do something bad and how a person would worship the devil. Then
    the same two questions are repeated except in regard to God tempting a person
    to do good rather than bad. The final section of the interview contains
    questions about 12 picture scenes with either religious themes (e.g.,
    Crucifixion, Jewish family seder), satanic themes (e.g., boy in ring of
    candles worshipping a goat's head, robed figures at a cemetery), or
    nonreligious themes (e.g., elderly woman carrying a basket).

    Our results indicate that children have relatively little knowledge of
    satanic child abuse. As far as we could determine, none of the children
    possessed knowledge of satanic sexual abuse of adults or children. However,
    children's knowledge of satanic activities increased with age, as did their
    religious knowledge generally.



    Ritual Abuse Allegations 11

    The closest response we obtained to a satanic abuse scenario was in
    response to the question, "A man and woman decide that they are going to
    worship the devil. What bad things would they do to worship the devil." A
    16-year-old girl said "Have sex if unmarried, kill people, steal, cheat, lie,
    have sacrifice with living animals, have baby and kill it, and wear signs of
    the devil." We did not score this response as a satanic abuse account because
    it did not involve sexual abuse of a child or adult, but it does incorporate
    many other characteristics of ritual abuse claims. No other child came as
    close as this one to expressing knowledge of satanic ritual abuse.

    Although the children did not evidence knowledge of full-blown satanic
    ritual abuse, they did express many precursors to such knowledge. For
    example, even some 3-year-olds knew that the devil kills. In response to the
    question "Imagine that a person meets the devil in the forest and the devil
    tempts the person to do some really bad things. What bad things would the
    person do?", one 3-year-old said: "Stick pins and needles in them, no needles,
    bit someone else, stab a knife in them, get blood out of them, put from back
    playdo (sic), and put napkin on their back, and eat them." In response to the
    same question, a number of 7- to 8-year-olds and 11- to 12-year-olds responded
    by talking about "doing bad things" such as vandalism, stealing, fighting, and
    lying. However, the 11- to 12-year-olds were at times more graphic: for
    example, an 11-year-old boy said, "Burn lambs or something, burn stuff,
    sacrifice stuff." A 16-year-old stated, "Kill people, drink their blood,
    perform living sacrifice with animals, steal, and worship the devil."

    The 11- to 12-year-olds started to show knowledge of demonic possession.
    A child of 11 years, shown a common depiction of a devil talking to a person
    in a tempting pose, said "He was getting possessed by the devil." The 11- to
    12-year-olds verbalized an association between satanic influence and
    cemeteries, black souls, the dark side, and evil spirits. One or two 11- to
    12-year-olds and a few 15- to 16-year-olds indicated that wearing dark clothes
    was associated with the devil or clothes with satanic symbols such as
    pentagrams. Such knowledge might be molded into a satanic abuse report under
    suggestive or coercive interviewing.

    Children's knowledge of satanic symbols also changed with age. None of
    the 3- to 4-year-olds or the 7- to 8-year-old knew the meaning of satanic
    symbols. When shown the inverted cross, one 3-year-old thought it was a sword
    and another a bench to sit on. One 7-year-old girl spontaneously drew for us
    a Nazi swastika stating that it was a satanic symbol. The 11- to 12-year-olds
    knew something about satanic symbols, such as 666 and the pentagram. However,
    a few 11- to 12-year-olds thought the Star of David was a satanic symbol.
    Some children 12 years and under did not differentiate the inverted cross from
    an upright one. The 15- to 16-year-olds indicated that they had seen satanic
    symbols (e.g., 666) in movies.

    The fact that children in this study lacked knowledge of satanic ritual
    abuse does not necessarily imply that children's reports of satanic ritual
    abuse are true. The findings do suggest, however, that children would be
    unlikely to make up such reports on their own. The knowledge they obtain from
    their religious training, their families, and the media alone appear to
    provide insufficient information. However, many children evidenced knowledge
    of activities related to satanic ritual abuse, such as blood drinking, animal
    sacrifices, and killing others. It is unclear whether or not such knowledge
    could in fact be molded into a satanic abuse report.

    A limitation to the generalizability of these findings must be noted.
    In our study, for ethical reasons, we did not ask children directly what they
    knew about satanic ritual abuse and related topics. Instead, we examined
    children's knowledge indirectly, through questions about heaven, hell, God,
    and types of music, movies, symbols, and pictures. Therefore our results must
    he interpreted with caution.

    Study 5

    So far, we have concentrated on reports of ritualistic child abuse.
    Religion-related abuse cases were used primarily for comparison purposes.
    However, because religious beliefs can at times foster, encourage, and justify
    abusive behavior, it was important for us to take a closer look at some of the



    Ritual Abuse Allegations 12

    religion-related cases we uncovered. Therefore, we conducted further analyses
    of the clinicians' reports from Study 1 concerning such acts as beating the
    devil out of a child, withholding medical care, and abuse by clergy. To our
    knowledge, our sample of child abuse case reports involving religious beliefs
    is one of the largest ever to be examined quantitatively.

    For the present analyses, three kinds of religion-related cases were
    considered: (a) abuse involving the withholding of medical care for religious
    reasons; (b) abuse related to attempts to rid a child of the devil or evil
    spirits; (c) abuse perpetrated by religious professionals such as priests,
    rabbis, or ministers. We chose to examine only "pure" instances of each of
    the three cases--that is, cases involving no more than one of each of these
    three defining features. The total number of religion-related cases
    considered in the present analyses was 271: 25 "pure" cases involving medical
    neglect (17 reported by children, 8 by adults), 69 involving abuse related to
    attempts to rid a child of evil (41 reported by children, 28 by adults), and
    177 in which the perpetrator of abuse had religious authority (55 reported by
    children, 119 by adults--the status of victim as child or adult survivor was
    impossible to determine in 3 cases).

    Results indicated that nearly all abuse perpetrated by religious
    professionals (94%) was sexual in nature. Religious professionals' role as
    unquestioned moral leaders apparently gave them special access to children,
    much like the access enjoyed by trusted family members in incest cases. About
    half (48%) of ridding-evil cases and a quarter (23%) of neglect cases also
    included allegations of sexual abuse.

    Physical abuse, psychological abuse, and neglect were present at
    different levels across the three types of cases. By definition, neglect
    characterized more withholding of medical care cases than other types of
    cases, but it was also noted in some cases of ridding a child of evil. The
    incidence of physical abuse was higher in ridding-evil cases than in other
    cases. The physical abuse suffered by victims was often quite severe. One
    respondent wrote that a client described being "made to kneel on grater for
    hours. Metal device was put on her head, then her father would use a
    screwdriver to bang on head." The child had physical wounds to prove it.
    Psychological abuse was most commonly reported in child ridding-evil cases and
    adult medical neglect cases.

    Finally, 2% of all cases involved a murder (three ridding-evil cases and
    one religious professional case). This probably underrepresents the actual
    number of cases that result in the death of a child, because our respondents
    were largely reporting cases in which their clients had survived abuse and
    entered therapy as a result.

    It has been suggested that most sexual abuse committed by religious
    authorities, particularly Catholic priests, targets boys rather than girls
    (Isely & Isely, 1990) and is perpetrated by males rather than females.
    Surprisingly, our data did not support these suggestions. Male and female
    victims were about equally common, even in cases in which the perpetrator was
    Catholic (M= 1.38 girl victims and M= 1.21 boy victims per case). In fact,
    in cases reported by adult survivors, more female than male victims were
    reported to have been involved. The reason our adult reports included more
    female than male victims may be due to the disproportionately large number of
    women who seek therapy as adults. Ridding-evil and neglect cases did not
    differ from religious authority cases in the number of perpetrators, male or
    female. In religious authority cases, there were more male than female
    perpetrators, but even so, many female perpetrators were reported. The
    perpetrators were usually religious leaders such as priests or ministers, but
    they also included youth ministers, nuns, and at least one tribal medicine man
    and one archbishop.

    Neglect and ridding-evil cases had a relatively early onset, but
    perpetrators with religious authority did not approach their victims until
    they were older (around 10 years old), suggesting that these perpetrators on
    the whole were less likely to abuse very young children. Religious authority
    cases were also discovered at a later time than other cases, probably because
    they were characterized by sexual abuse, which is less overtly physically



    Ritual Abuse Allegations 13

    damaging than the abuses associated with the other case types.

    Most of the alleged victims originally sought therapy for depression,
    especially victims of abuse by religious professionals, who also tended to
    report suicidal ideation and be diagnosed as suffering from affective
    disorders. Strikingly, over a third of the adult victims of ridding-evil and
    religious-authority abuse, and almost a fifth of the children who reported
    being abused by religious professionals, had considered suicide. The
    consequences of abuse by religious authorities have been speculatively equated
    with that of sexual abuse committed by other kinds of perpetrators (Isely &
    Isely, 1990). Here we document that abuse by religious authorities may be as
    psychologically damaging, and perhaps more damaging, than even the violently
    physical abuses of parents whose religious beliefs lead them to view their
    children as evil incarnate. (The possibility should be noted, however, that a
    subset of these cases may contain false reports and that false reports may be
    made by disturbed individuals who have not suffered the types of abuse they
    report.)

    Other serious psychological symptoms were displayed by the victims.
    Multiple personality and other dissociative disorders, once rarely diagnosed,
    were fairly common in our sample, being diagnosed in over 20% of adult cases
    of ridding-evil and medical neglect.

    It is impossible to validate with certainty the cases reported to us,
    but we did ask a number of questions designed to obtain some indication of
    validity. First, we were interested in whether our respondents believed their
    clients' claims of harm. Overwhelmingly they did. The overall belief level
    among clinicians was 1.96, on a scale ranging from 0 "not true" to 2 "true."
    There was no difference in belief among the three case types.

    What was the basis for the therapists' strong beliefs? We asked them to
    describe the evidence for their cases, both for the harm itself and,
    separately, for the religious aspects of the case. Although concrete evidence
    might be expected in cases involving medical neglect or physical torture to
    rid a child of evil, we did not expect to find hard evidence for sexual abuse
    perpetrated by those with religious authority. Indeed, much controversy
    currently surrounds the validity of such claims. Our expectations were
    supported: Allegations of abuse by religious professionals were the most
    likely to be supported only by clients' claims and less likely to be
    accompanied by medical or other physical evidence. Even so, there was
    convincing evidence in many of the cases; one respondent wrote, for example:
    "She has clear memories and has confronted the priest. He has reluctantly
    admitted it."

    Interestingly, children's claims were backed with more convincing
    evidence than adults'. Compared to adults' reports, children's reports were
    significantly more likely to involve corroborative evidence and less likely to
    be substantiated only by the clients' symptomology and therapist's opinion.
    In general, this is probably due to the long delay between the events in
    childhood and their description to a therapist years or even decades later.

    We also asked respondents to indicate evidence specifically supporting
    the involvement of religion in the abuse. Again, children's reports were more
    likely than adults' to be substantiated by corroborative evidence, while the
    evidence for adults' claims was more likely to consist only of the clients'
    symptomatology and the therapist's opinion. Corroborative evidence was
    particularly likely in cases involving ridding children of evil and medical
    neglect. In fact, all child reports of medical neglect were substantiated,
    either by medical evidence or perpetrator confession. In contrast, there was
    little hard evidence supporting the claims of abuse by religious
    professionals. In fact, in 11% of the cases, respondents made a comment
    indicating skepticism about the religious elements of the abuse, usually about
    the identity of the perpetrator. For example, one respondent wrote, "Sexual
    abuse by priest is patient's self-report. Over two years, it became unclear
    whether abuse had occurred, or whether 'father' was actually perpetrator and
    the priest (father) was metaphor."

    Overall, there was less compelling evidence in cases reported by adults
    than in cases reported by children, especially in ridding-evil cases.



    Ritual Abuse Allegations 14

    Evidence for religious beliefs leading to harmful medical neglect or attempted
    exorcism of children was particularly convincing, often including a
    straightforward admission by parents.

    We also asked the clinicians to tell us about outside investigations and
    legal outcomes of the cases. Social services were most likely to investigate
    ridding-evil and medical neglect cases. There were large victim-type (child
    vs. adult) differences indicating that social services was much more likely to
    have investigated child cases, and there was much less often an investigation
    of any kind in the adult cases, which in fact were rarely even reported to
    officials. Cases reported by children were much more likely to have been
    formally investigated by police or district attorneys' offices than cases
    reported by adult survivors.

    Concerning case outcome, compared to adult allegations, claims made by
    children were also most likely to be reported initially, substantiated by
    social services or by police arrest, and adjudicated. They were also more
    likely to be tried successfully: Only 1% of adult cases ended in conviction,
    whereas almost 20% of child cases did. Surprisingly, given the pattern of
    results regarding case evidence, once child cases were reported, arrests,
    trials, and convictions were most likely in cases perpetrated by religious
    authorities.

    Interestingly, few cases (1% of ridding-evil cases and 1% of religious-
    authority cases) resulted in civil suits, even though skeptical journalists
    have recently suggested that victims, particularly those who allege past
    sexual abuse, may press charges only out of a self-serving desire to seek
    financial compensation.

    Finally, perhaps our most disturbing finding is that cases involving
    medical neglect were unlikely to be prosecuted even in the face of compelling
    evidence and when the abuse was extreme.

    It is important to note that in our survey we ignored other forms of
    religion-related child abuse that are of importance and need future
    examination if we are to fully understand the point at which religion fosters
    damaging abuse rather than compassionate child-rearing. Perhaps the moat
    obvious of the forms of abuse we did not investigate is severe physical
    punishment for disciplinary reasons rooted in religious ideology.

    Conclusion

    Lay and professional worries about children being abused in ungodly
    ritualistic ways have resulted in new legislation in several states that makes
    "satanic" or "ritualistic" abuse punishable more severely than abuse that does
    not have anti-religious connotations. Our results suggest, however, that
    religion-related abuse is actually more common than satanic abuse. As one of
    our respondents, the head of a child and adolescent psychiatry unit at a
    prominent mental health center, commented: "I am convinced that the publicity
    about ritual abuse has led to unfounded beliefs in many people. The cases I
    report herein are sad: an adult recalling abuse by fundamentalist parents who
    may have been psychotic, two children who were abused by fundamentalist
    parents who believed that they were carrying out Biblical injunctions. These
    are bad enough situations without having the general population alarmed about
    some sort of satanic conspiracy." We agree. Our research leads us to believe
    that there are many more children being abused in the name of God than in the
    name of Satan. Ironically, while the public concerns itself with passing laws
    to punish satanic child abuse, laws already exist that protect parents whose
    particular variants of belief in God deny their children life-saving medical
    care. The freedom to choose religions and to practice them will, and should,
    always be protected by our constitution, but the freedom to abuse children in
    the course of those practices ought to be curtailed.


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