Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1991, Page 27
Why Aren’t There Criminal Convictions for “Cult Ritual Child Abuse”?
If a phenomenon has not been specifically defined and prohibited in a state‟s criminal code,
there is no reason for law enforcement agencies to investigate it. Instead, police officers
generally investigate only the allegations of specific crimes in the area of groups alleged to
maltreat children the police will only investigate the sexual and assaultive offenses alleged to
have been committed upon the children. Only a few states have attempted to define and
prohibit the crime of “cult behavior” or “ritual child abuse.” When such legislation is enacted,
law enforcement agencies will be obligated to investigate the broader phenomenon.
Cult ritual child abuse is often alleged to have occurred in out-of-home care settings, thus
complicating the investigative process. The roles of the police, child protective services,
mental health therapists, and child care licensing agencies are frequently unclear, creating the
potential for repetitious interviews, withholding of information and evidence, and
inappropriate disclosure of investigative information to the media.
The bizarre nature of the reported events frequently raises questions about the veracity of the
children. The children may be in acute mental health crisis, which compounds the assessment
of their credibility, and may be especially difficult to interview due to their young age and the
use of terroristic threats against disclosure by the abusers.
Thus prosecutors have concerns about filing charges in these cases, since they must prove
the defendants are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The combination of unsatisfactory
investigations and children whose credibility can be easily challenged tends to assist the
defendant(s). Nonetheless, there have been convictions in Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada,
Illinois and other states for various forms of child maltreatment in cases where the broader
form of ritual child abuse allegedly occurred.
How Can You Tell When a Child Has Been a Victim of Ritual Child Abuse?
There is no single symptom or group of symptoms that conclusively proves that a child has
been a victim of ritual child abuse. If the child has been physically or sexually assaulted there
may be medical evidence, but frequently this has disappeared by the time the child is able to
disclose what has happened.
The child may show behavioral signs of stress, such as sleep disturbances, aggression toward
toys, pets, and humans, regression to such behaviors as thumb sucking and bed wetting, and
especially fears and phobic reactions.
There may be bizarre statements. He or she may talk about demons and monsters who are
watching him/her constantly and have the power to harm him/her and family members. The
child may become preoccupied with the topic of death, and discuss animals and humans being
killed and/or mutilated. He/she may discuss eating feces and drinking urine or blood, masked
and robed figures, chants, rituals, candles and incense.
Some of these behaviors may be attributable to other stresses in the child‟s life, such as a
move, illness or death in the family, or family separation. Other behavioral symptoms may be
symptoms of mental illness. It is unclear whether some behaviors and statements are
reactions to exposure to films and videos depicting graphic violence, Satanic cults, and
demonic powers. Unfortunately, it is difficult to differentiate between children who have
delusions, children who have vivid night terrors, children who are incorporating fictitious film
and video content, and children who recount real events of ritual child abuse by groups.
Some child victims of alleged “cult ritual child abuse” report events that are clearly erroneous
e.g., “people were flying around the room, people were cut up and put back together,” etc.
Whether these reports are hallucinations due to a diagnosable psychiatric illness, from having
unknowingly ingested hallucinogens, misperception of magical illusions performed by the
group, or from an unknown cause may be difficult to determine.

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1991, Page 28
Are the Accounts of Adults Who Claim to Have Experienced “Cult Ritual Child Abuse”
as Children Accurate?
There is some debate about the accuracy of reports by adults who claim to have been
childhood victims of Satanic cults decades ago.
Those with doubts argue that if these cults were in existence 20 and 30 years ago, at the time
these adults were children, we should have heard the same rumors of child maltreatment that
we hear today. Instead, there is little or no evidence of their existence --no corpses, Satanic
paraphernalia, or diaries by participants --and there have been few identified survivors who
could independently corroborate each other‟s accounts of experiences in the same location.
Further, these individuals frequently suffer from multiple personality disorder or from post-
traumatic stress disorder as a result of some traumatic childhood experience, but state that
they had no conscious memories of these events until they had undergone hypnosis. A
number of forensic experiments with hypnotic suggestion raise doubts about the accuracy of
recall of events after hypnotic trances.
On the other hand, since the effects of psychological intimidation can be long-lasting,
survivors of ritual child abuse may not have felt safe in coming forward until recently, when
the public has been more able to accept the reality of child sexual abuse. In addition, we
have only learned about post-traumatic stress disorder and multiple personality disorder
within the last few years. It is possible that those children and adults in previous decades who
dared to report their childhood victimization were disbelieved and sent to mental health
professionals where they were misdiagnosed as psychotic, without any meaningful
investigation by law enforcement officials.
Conclusion
Since we lack consensus as to the nature of the phenomena we are faced with, including a
lack of consensus regarding terms and criteria to measure incidence and validity, it is likely
that the controversies will continue. In the meantime, we should exercise our critical
judgment in evaluating what we see and hear from those who deny the existence of ritual
child abuse and those who claim that it is widespread.
Selected Bibliography on Ritualistic Abuse of Children
Cozolino, L.J. (1989). The ritual abuse of children: Implications for clinical practice and
research. Journal of Sex Research 26:1, 131-138.
Crewdson, J. (1988). By Silence Betrayed: Sexual Abuse of Children in America. Boston:
Little, Brown.
Faller, K.C. (Spring 1990). Sexual abuse of children in cults: A clinical perspective.
Roundtable Magazine 2:2, 11-13.
Finkelhor, D., Meyer Williams, L., &Burns, N. (1988). Nursery Crimes: Sexual Abuse in Day
Care. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Ganaway, G.K. (1989). Historical versus narrative truth: Clarifying the role of exogenous
trauma in the etiology of multiple personality disorder and its variants. Dissociation, 2,
209-220.
Hollingsworth, J. (1986). Unspeakable Acts. Chicago: Congdon &Weed.
Kelley, S.J. (1988). Ritualistic abuse of children: Dynamics and impact. Cultic Studies
Journal, 5:2, 228-236.
Kelley, S.J. (1989). Stress responses of children to sexual abuse and ritualistic abuse in day
care centers. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 4:4, 502-513.