As someone who actually attended the Day of Contrition conference in Salem, I am appalled by Eileen's McNamara's sloppy, inaccurate column in today's Globe. McNamara betrays her non-attendance my misreporting the location of the conference, which took place at the Hawthorne Hotel. If she did attend, and made such a blunder, I respect her journalism even less.
Presenters at the Salem conference were nationally respected psychologists, defense lawyers, prosecutors and writers: Elizabeth Loftus, John Putnam Demos, Debbie Nathan and Mike Snedeker, Alan Rubenstein (DA, Bucks County, PA). There were stimulating videotaped messages of support from Arthur Miller and William Styron. No one attending that conference denies the reality of child molesters, and no one wants those who harm children to go unpunished and undeterred.
Had Ms. McNamara taken the time to do the minimal amount of research she would realize that thousands of innocent people languish in prison, falsely accused and convicted by coerced testimony from suggestible children. Of the many still falsely imprisoned because of the Satanic Ritual Abuse witch hunt in Wenatchee, Washington, for example, at least 30 are mentally retarded. She would also know that perhaps millions of families have been destroyed by those who "recover" memories--even though no credible evidence supports the theory of massive memory repression.
No one at the Salem conference argued, or would argue, as McNamara falsely stated, "that there is a mass conspiracy to railroad the innocent into prison cells." The presenters at the conference avoided the temptation of easy explanations, and even granted that most of the injustices were perpetrated by people who have the very best of intentions. The presenters' goal was to find ways to avoid future false imprisonment while insuring that those who do harm children are brought to justice.
A major reason for the injustices of the past 15 years is that the media has not done its job. Lazy reporters have accepted incredible allegations uncritically and thus fanned the flames of hysteria. The brave exceptions have had a price to pay, of course. As Chair of the Political Issues Committee of the National Writers Union (UAW Local 1981) I filed last spring a court Declaration supporting the journalistic privilege of hard-working Kathy Lyon, who faced the possibility of jail for refusing to reveal her sources in the Wenatchee case. Kathy won, but she was fully prepared to give up her freedom to defend her right to find and publish the truth. I have boundless admiration for that kind of journalism. Ms. McNamara's column, on the other hand, is a sorry example of shoddy and irresponsible journalism at its worst.
Robert. B. Chatelle