Dissecting Disbelief: Possible Reasons for the Denial of the Existence of Ritual Abuse in the United Kingdom

<div>When allegations of ritual abuse first came to light in the UK, they were met primarily with a ‘discourse of disbelief’ that left little room for the possibility accounts could be based in genuine experience. Despite convictions, recent criminological, sociological and psychological liter...

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Main Author: Kate Richardson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Queensland University of Technology 2015-07-01
Series:International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/228
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spelling doaj-a053c76da462470bae23ea000a70cdf02021-06-02T06:36:16ZengQueensland University of TechnologyInternational Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy2202-79982202-80052015-07-0142779310.5204/ijcjsd.v4i2.228172Dissecting Disbelief: Possible Reasons for the Denial of the Existence of Ritual Abuse in the United KingdomKate Richardson<div>When allegations of ritual abuse first came to light in the UK, they were met primarily with a ‘discourse of disbelief’ that left little room for the possibility accounts could be based in genuine experience. Despite convictions, recent criminological, sociological and psychological literature appears fixed on debunking ritual abuse’s existence through highly debated concepts such as ‘false memory’. This paper proposes three broad ‘reasons’ for the creation and maintenance of disbelief around ritual abuse, highlighting the importance of key cases in shaping press coverage of the issue during the 1980s and 1990s, and the role survivor advocates have played in distancing ritual abuse from established knowledge within both psychology and child protection. I argue that the tangibility of death and abject horror within survivor accounts, as well as the perceived religious motivations of perpetrators, make ritual abuse both experientially and conceptually alien to most members of late-modern societies.<hr size="1" /><div><div><p> </p></div></div></div>https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/228Ritual abuseorganised abusechild protectionClevelandMcMartin.
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Kate Richardson
spellingShingle Kate Richardson
Dissecting Disbelief: Possible Reasons for the Denial of the Existence of Ritual Abuse in the United Kingdom
International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy
Ritual abuse
organised abuse
child protection
Cleveland
McMartin.
author_facet Kate Richardson
author_sort Kate Richardson
title Dissecting Disbelief: Possible Reasons for the Denial of the Existence of Ritual Abuse in the United Kingdom
title_short Dissecting Disbelief: Possible Reasons for the Denial of the Existence of Ritual Abuse in the United Kingdom
title_full Dissecting Disbelief: Possible Reasons for the Denial of the Existence of Ritual Abuse in the United Kingdom
title_fullStr Dissecting Disbelief: Possible Reasons for the Denial of the Existence of Ritual Abuse in the United Kingdom
title_full_unstemmed Dissecting Disbelief: Possible Reasons for the Denial of the Existence of Ritual Abuse in the United Kingdom
title_sort dissecting disbelief: possible reasons for the denial of the existence of ritual abuse in the united kingdom
publisher Queensland University of Technology
series International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy
issn 2202-7998
2202-8005
publishDate 2015-07-01
description <div>When allegations of ritual abuse first came to light in the UK, they were met primarily with a ‘discourse of disbelief’ that left little room for the possibility accounts could be based in genuine experience. Despite convictions, recent criminological, sociological and psychological literature appears fixed on debunking ritual abuse’s existence through highly debated concepts such as ‘false memory’. This paper proposes three broad ‘reasons’ for the creation and maintenance of disbelief around ritual abuse, highlighting the importance of key cases in shaping press coverage of the issue during the 1980s and 1990s, and the role survivor advocates have played in distancing ritual abuse from established knowledge within both psychology and child protection. I argue that the tangibility of death and abject horror within survivor accounts, as well as the perceived religious motivations of perpetrators, make ritual abuse both experientially and conceptually alien to most members of late-modern societies.<hr size="1" /><div><div><p> </p></div></div></div>
topic Ritual abuse
organised abuse
child protection
Cleveland
McMartin.
url https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/view/228
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