The conviction of Paul Shanley worries me--because I wonder about memory in these child rape cases.

Blaise (imported) wrote: Tue Feb 08, 2005 4:01 pm The conviction of Paul Shanley worries me--because I wonder about memory in these child rape cases.

Yes it happens all the time. False memories are so easly planted during question of young childern treating them as adults and it can easly happen to adults to. It happened to a freinds child, the child that did accusting had been abused and knew how the system worked. You just can hear the train a coming.

_g

As I live on the other side of the pont, I don't know about this. Could someone enlighten me??

Was the conviction big nationally? Was the trial on Court TV?

Even a small percentage of priests (and other ministers) acting out sexually might involve many victims. What makes the case difficult comes from the age of the case and the sorry state of how authorities prosecute such cases. Bad psychology has played into making such cases more difficult to believe. In addition, we respected priests and ministers. We accepted their authority. It was hard to break the patterns.

My father once said that people find out about sex some way--finding our from a priest might have been one way. I think it was a bad way.

I find it hard to believe that Shanley did not abuse children, but how in the world do you prove such a charge? We are on dangerous ground.

Power concedes nothing without struggle. The lawsuits put the Catholic Church and others on notice. We needed to put them on notice. Convicting Shanely, however, seems to set a bad example--it really does look like a witch trial, even if the vicitm really is a victim--which he probably is.