International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 5
American legal system was unable to provide a
remedy.
Complicating the situation is the lack of
cooperation by would-be victims. For example,
Wall described false testimony at the Jeffs’ trial,
given by fellow FLDS members.
41F
42 The power of
FLDS over its followers and the inability of the
authorities to effectively intervene were
observed when authorities raided a Texas FLDS
compound in the spring of 2008.
42F
43 The raid was
sparked by an anonymous 911 call from an
alleged teenager crying for help.
43F
44 Authorities
initiated an extensive interrogation.
44F
45 The caller
was never located. Women and over 400
children were removed from the compound and
questioned extensively, but many questions
remained unanswered.
45F
46 The women were
unwilling to provide answers to many questions,
and, when they did reply, their answers were
often false, according to Wall.
46F
47 After a couple
of months, the children were returned to FLDS
and no arrests were made.
47F
48
The child marriage of Wall was not an isolated
one, but rather common practice. Warren Jeffs’
father, known in FLDS as “Uncle Rulon,” has
married an estimated seventy-five women and
fathered at least sixty-five children.
48F
49 Uncle
Rulon’s brides were just fourteen or fifteen years
old, even when he aged into his eighties.
49F
50 And,
similar to the personal account of Wall, Uncle
Rulon preached “perfect obedience” and
“submission.”
50F
51
After a failed prosecution in the Walls case,
Warren Jeffs was eventually convicted in a
Texas court in 2011 for sexual assault
42 WALL, supra note 20, at 400−13.
43 See generally Kirk Johnson, Texas Polygamy Raid May Pose
Risk, N.Y. TIMES, Apr. 12, 2008.
44 Id.
45 Id.
46 See id.
47 WALL, supra note 20, at 438.
48 See Janet Heimlich, No Refuge: Five Years After the Infamous
Raid on the FLDS Compound in Eldorado, OBSERVER (Aug. 1,
2012, 5:58 PM), http://www.texasobserver .org/no-refuge/.
49 See Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of
Violent Faith 12 (Doubleday 2003).
50 Id.
51 Id.
committed against two females ages twelve and
fifteen.
51F
52 In contrast, if a trafficker were to
falsely advertise on the internet that Wall was a
willing bride and then sell her to a would-be
husband, the seller would be charged with a
criminal act under federal anti-human trafficking
statues. Our culture has protected abuses within
religious organizations, and our courts have
operated with little remedy.
52F
53 In both instances,
there is an under-age marriage and an unwilling
bride.
53F
54 The similarities and distinctions
between the two—cults and trafficking—are the
subject of this paper.
B. Four Processes of Indoctrination
Why do cults continue to exist and what makes
it difficult to prosecute their abusive tactics?
When cases go to trial, it is always possible that
witnesses will lie or recant their stories, making
prosecution difficult. When cults are on trial,
this possibility is exacerbated by “mind control,”
a pernicious tactic at the root of destructive
cults. The legal term for mind control is “undue
influence.”
54F
55 Regardless of the term used, the
idea is the same: cult leaders gain control over
their members by severely restricting their
freedom of choice, sometimes through
deception, sometimes through intimidation, and
sometimes through coercion.
55F
56
Steven Hassan described his descent into the
Unification Church,
56F
57 an extensive and
destructive cult, at least when Hassan was a
52 See Whitehurst, Lindsay, Warren Jeffs gets Life in Prison for
Sex with Underage Girls, SALT LAKE TRIB., Aug. 11, 2011.
53 Id.
54 See infra.
55 See Alan W. Scheflin, Supporting Human Rights by Testifying
Against Human Wrongs, 6 INT’L J. CULTIC STUD. 69, 70 (2015).
56 “Coercion” is a complex word choice here. The recruited, who
is often lured into the cult under false pretenses, is not initially
forced to do something he or she does not want to do, and often
this new recruit would deny being “coerced.” He or she may be
manipulated in not choosing what the leader wants, and he may not
realize that his choice was constricted as much as somebody who
was ‘coerced’ through threat.
57 STEVEN HASSAN, COMBATING CULT MIND CONTROL 52−65
(25th Anniv. Ed. Freedom of Mind Press 2015). Formal title of the
organization is “The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of
World Christianity.” The organization is dubbed the “Moonies”
after its leader Sun Myung Moon. As Hassan explains, the
Moonies is one of the more visible and destructive cults, both in
the United States and worldwide.
American legal system was unable to provide a
remedy.
Complicating the situation is the lack of
cooperation by would-be victims. For example,
Wall described false testimony at the Jeffs’ trial,
given by fellow FLDS members.
41F
42 The power of
FLDS over its followers and the inability of the
authorities to effectively intervene were
observed when authorities raided a Texas FLDS
compound in the spring of 2008.
42F
43 The raid was
sparked by an anonymous 911 call from an
alleged teenager crying for help.
43F
44 Authorities
initiated an extensive interrogation.
44F
45 The caller
was never located. Women and over 400
children were removed from the compound and
questioned extensively, but many questions
remained unanswered.
45F
46 The women were
unwilling to provide answers to many questions,
and, when they did reply, their answers were
often false, according to Wall.
46F
47 After a couple
of months, the children were returned to FLDS
and no arrests were made.
47F
48
The child marriage of Wall was not an isolated
one, but rather common practice. Warren Jeffs’
father, known in FLDS as “Uncle Rulon,” has
married an estimated seventy-five women and
fathered at least sixty-five children.
48F
49 Uncle
Rulon’s brides were just fourteen or fifteen years
old, even when he aged into his eighties.
49F
50 And,
similar to the personal account of Wall, Uncle
Rulon preached “perfect obedience” and
“submission.”
50F
51
After a failed prosecution in the Walls case,
Warren Jeffs was eventually convicted in a
Texas court in 2011 for sexual assault
42 WALL, supra note 20, at 400−13.
43 See generally Kirk Johnson, Texas Polygamy Raid May Pose
Risk, N.Y. TIMES, Apr. 12, 2008.
44 Id.
45 Id.
46 See id.
47 WALL, supra note 20, at 438.
48 See Janet Heimlich, No Refuge: Five Years After the Infamous
Raid on the FLDS Compound in Eldorado, OBSERVER (Aug. 1,
2012, 5:58 PM), http://www.texasobserver .org/no-refuge/.
49 See Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of
Violent Faith 12 (Doubleday 2003).
50 Id.
51 Id.
committed against two females ages twelve and
fifteen.
51F
52 In contrast, if a trafficker were to
falsely advertise on the internet that Wall was a
willing bride and then sell her to a would-be
husband, the seller would be charged with a
criminal act under federal anti-human trafficking
statues. Our culture has protected abuses within
religious organizations, and our courts have
operated with little remedy.
52F
53 In both instances,
there is an under-age marriage and an unwilling
bride.
53F
54 The similarities and distinctions
between the two—cults and trafficking—are the
subject of this paper.
B. Four Processes of Indoctrination
Why do cults continue to exist and what makes
it difficult to prosecute their abusive tactics?
When cases go to trial, it is always possible that
witnesses will lie or recant their stories, making
prosecution difficult. When cults are on trial,
this possibility is exacerbated by “mind control,”
a pernicious tactic at the root of destructive
cults. The legal term for mind control is “undue
influence.”
54F
55 Regardless of the term used, the
idea is the same: cult leaders gain control over
their members by severely restricting their
freedom of choice, sometimes through
deception, sometimes through intimidation, and
sometimes through coercion.
55F
56
Steven Hassan described his descent into the
Unification Church,
56F
57 an extensive and
destructive cult, at least when Hassan was a
52 See Whitehurst, Lindsay, Warren Jeffs gets Life in Prison for
Sex with Underage Girls, SALT LAKE TRIB., Aug. 11, 2011.
53 Id.
54 See infra.
55 See Alan W. Scheflin, Supporting Human Rights by Testifying
Against Human Wrongs, 6 INT’L J. CULTIC STUD. 69, 70 (2015).
56 “Coercion” is a complex word choice here. The recruited, who
is often lured into the cult under false pretenses, is not initially
forced to do something he or she does not want to do, and often
this new recruit would deny being “coerced.” He or she may be
manipulated in not choosing what the leader wants, and he may not
realize that his choice was constricted as much as somebody who
was ‘coerced’ through threat.
57 STEVEN HASSAN, COMBATING CULT MIND CONTROL 52−65
(25th Anniv. Ed. Freedom of Mind Press 2015). Formal title of the
organization is “The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of
World Christianity.” The organization is dubbed the “Moonies”
after its leader Sun Myung Moon. As Hassan explains, the
Moonies is one of the more visible and destructive cults, both in
the United States and worldwide.
