| In 1984 prosecutors indicted seven teachers at the McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach, California, on charges they had sexually abused dozens of children. Charges were dropped against five of the teachers, but the subsequent trial of Peggy McMartin Buckey, left, and her son Ray Buckey, far right, was one of the longest and costliest trials in American history. The case relied heavily on pretrial interviews of the preschool children conducted by therapists. In these interviews, the children accused the Buckeys of rape, sodomy, satanic rituals, trips to cemeteries to dig up bodies, and other bizarre acts. Were the children’s memories reliable? Psychologists for the defense argued that the therapists essentially taught the children scripted stories of abuse using highly suggestive and even coercive methods of questioning. In 1990 a jury acquitted the Buckeys. Research has shown that strong suggestions from a therapist can help implant false memories in people and that children can be more vulnerable to these suggestions than adults. |
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