News items, from 2009-NOV to now

"There is no question that the respondents were the victims of a clear miscarriage of justice which undoubtedly had a devastating effect on their lives. ... Especially in the absence of an acquittal, it is often difficult for people wrongly accused of such crimes to fully regain their positions in society and free themselves from the stigma and trauma of those false allegations. The fact that we now know that the children's allegations of sexual abuse were false, however, does not provide the answer to whether the respondents' action in malicious prosecution against the Crown prosecutor can succeed. ... It is my view that there is no evidence to support a finding of malice or improper purpose. In light of the respondents' failure to prove malice, it is not necessary to determine whether there was a lack of reasonable and probable grounds to proceed at the time Miazga initiated the prosecution more than 18 years ago. ... Given that the children's allegations are now known to have been false, no useful purpose would be served by revisiting 'the facts' as they appeared at that time."

The ruling will not affect the settlement payments previously made to the families.

Jennifer Graham, writing for the Canadian Press, wrote:

"Justice Charron said the sex abuse accusations had to be put in the context of the early 1990s. At the time, the rules of evidence had changed, eliminating the requirement for corroboration of unsworn evidence of children. There was also a prevailing and pervasive doctrine, now debunked but popular among child psychologists at the time, that 'children don't lie about abuse'." ₉

2011-JAN-26: Canada: The Fifth Estate program on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast a documentary by Bountiful Films called "When the Devil Knocks."

The documentary concerns Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), a.k.a. Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). It is composed of segments from 40 hours of tapes of therapy sessions of Hilary Stanton of Edmonton, AB, Canada. They were filmed over a 12 year interval. The documentary was intended to train therapists in the treatment of DID. According to the Vancouver Sun newspaper:

"In the film, director Slinger treats the legitimacy of the illness as a foregone conclusion, and instead of examining it politically or in broader context, chooses to focus specifically on Stanton's experiences living with DID and her attempts to best it."

The False Memory Syndrome Foundation newsletter commented that the film:

"... could have done some service, perhaps, if this practice of [therapists] talking to alters were put in the context of critics who contend the symptoms of MPD disappear when the alters are ignored. This is one of many important issues that were neglected." Sadly, Hilary Stanton died in a car collision with a dead animal in Mexico; her wife Debbie survived.

2011-MAR-06: North America: Unsubstantiated rumors and questionable memories of Satanic Ritual Abuse have entered their fourth decade without hard evidence of their reality. By now, SRA has been thoroughly debunked.

However, the Investigation Discovery channel rebroadcast a documentary on forensic science called "F2: Forensic Factor" that was originally aired in 2008. The description of the program referred to how "A small town is plagued by Satanic rituals and murder." Anticipating a reference to murders by Satanists, I wasted an hour watching the program. It described multiple murders during 1986 in Farmington NM by sociopaths or psychopaths. The only connection to Satanism was a rather tenuous link to some youths and young adults play-acting swordplay in the desert.

2013-JUL-08: North America: The second half of the Dr. Phil TV program dealt with Jenny Hill, Robert, her adult son. and Judy Byington, her therapist. According to Jenny and Judy, Jenny is a victim of ritual abuse, which included human sacrifice. She recalls the involvement of a Nazi mind-control expert; this may be a reference to Dr. Greenbaum (a.k.a. Dr. Green) who is often mentioned in ritual abuse circles. She had repressed many memories of her past, has recovered them, and still suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly called Multiple Personality Disorder). Jenny's family believes that Byington is exploiting Jenny. Byington has written a book:

"Twenty Two Faces: Inside the extraordinary life of Jenny Hill and her twenty-two multiple personalities," Tate Publishing, (2012-MAY). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store It is available in paperback and Kindle formats.

During the program Dr. Phil mentioned that during his 35 year counseling career, he has never met a legitimate case involving Dissociative Identity Disorder. He said that there are major segments of the mental health profession that do not believe that it is a legitimate diagnosis.

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