You’re not related to Dan, are you? You seem to like his book.
I agree it’s a good book. People don’t realize that false memories are a bigger problem than forgetting.
HOWEVER, this girl is a LIAR. Her family members are LIARS. They have all been caught in so many lies and contradictions it’s not worth keeping track of them.
They are not prosecuting her because..._______________.
a. she knows too much
b. what she says will expose corruption in Durham
c. Durham’s economy depends on drugs & prostitution
d. she’s been an informant (and more) for the police
e. all of the above
The AG said yesterday that they believe that CGM actually believes all her various shifting stories, and he mentioned the term “records under seal.” My guess is that they have psych evaluations for Mizz Mangum that show her to have Vey Series Issues. Maybe not crazy or mentally ill in the “not guilty by reason of insanity” sense, but issues. This is a woman that, ten years ago, accused another group of boys of rape, and that case was never prosecuted either.
Basically, she’s a mess. I don’t think that should excuse her from paying the penalty for what she’s done, but between the backlash that prosecuting her would cause here (the “community leaders” would go nuts), and the fact that at least some of the families don’t want her indicted either, I guess the Powers That Be have decided it’s not worth it.
}:-)4
Janet Reno's Child Abuse
Robert Rosenthal
On April 30, 1993, the New Jersey Appellate Division reversed the conviction of Margaret Kelly Michaels, a 26-year-old aspiring actress and teacher who had been convicted five years earlier of molesting 21 preschool children by inserting silverware, toys, and swords into their bodily orifices, and forcing them to eat feces and to have intercourse with her--all during the school day at the busy Maplewood preschool at which she taught. Michaels had served five years of a 47-year sentence before the appeals court condemned the prosecutor's use of threats and bribes to make the alleged young "victims" testify against her.
Such tactics, the court said, were so coercive that they had probably contaminated the children's minds with false memories of abuse that never happened. Because of this, the children's stories were now suspect and could not be trusted. Eventually, the prosecutor's office dropped the charges against Michaels.
I was one of Michaels's attorneys, and the day after Kelly was released from prison I received a call from a woman named Kristine Fuster. Kris had read about my involvement, and she wanted me to represent her father, Frank Fuster. In 1985 a Florida jury had convicted Fuster of sexually molesting 21 children whom his wife baby-sat in their home in a Miami suburb.
Kris told me that her father's conviction was an even worse travesty than Michaels's. She said it was based totally on unreliable medical evidence, statements by children procured through coercion and deceit, and on the testimony of a 17-year-old co-defendant who agreed to cooperate only after being drugged and pressured...
More: HERE.
The reason false memories are so convincing is that the person with them is quite convincing since, from their point of view, the memory is correct and accurate.
I have never met nor corresponded with Dr. Schacter. He does write a good book for a general audience is well thought of in the academic, empirical and experimental psychology profession.