New book: The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children by Ross E. Cheit
A highly recommended book that calls into question how society views accusations of child sexual abuse. A series of prosecutions against day care workers in the 80’s were widely viewed as overly zealous, particularly after many of the convictions were overturned. The book is based on 15 years of careful research by Ross E. Cheit, Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at Brown University and his students. Cheit shows that almost all of these day care abuse cases were based on real evidence of child abuse. This book documents how misinformation promulgated by the media and by professionals led to the public perception of an epidemic of false accusations.Read more