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'''Satanic ritual abuse''' ('''SRA''') refers to the [[sexual abuse]] of children or non-consenting adults in the context of [[Satanism|Satanic]] rituals.  The term '''sadistic ritual abuse''' is sometimes used or suggested as a more descriptive synonym that makes no assumption of whether actual "Satanism" is involved.<ref name = VOV>{{cite web | url = http://www.victimsofviolence.on.ca/research339.html | format = html | language = english | accessdate =  2007-10-22 | title = Ritual Abuse of Children }}</ref>

Allegations of SRA remain [[controversy|controversial]]. A number of [[law enforcement]] sources,<ref name = Lanning>{{cite web | url = http://www.religioustolerance.org/fbi_01.htm | format = html | language = english | first = Kenneth V. | last = Lanning | title = Lanning's Guide to Allegations of Childhood Ritual Abuse | year = 1992 }}</ref> [[criminology|criminologists]], [[psychology|psychologists]], journalists, and religious commentators<ref name = RT>{{cite web | url = http://www.religioustolerance.org/ra_intro.htm | format = html | first = B.A. | last = Robinson | publisher = [[Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance]] | title = Ritual Abuse: An introduction to all points of view | accessdate = 2007-10-22 }}</ref> have suggested that allegations of SRA are false or at least grossly exaggerated.<ref name=NYT3>{{cite news |first=Daniel |last=Goleman |authorlink=Daniel Goleman |coauthors= |title=Proof Lacking for Ritual Abuse by Satanists. | url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02EEDD1E3FF932A05753C1A962958260 |publisher=[[New York Times]] |date=[[October 31]], [[1994]] |accessdate = 2007-09-25 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=The Fears and Fables about Satanic Cults |url= |publisher=[[The Wichita Eagle]] |date=[[September 15]], [[1990]] |accessdate = 2007-09-25 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Showalter |first=Elaine |authorlink=Elaine Showalter |coauthors= |title=Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Culture |year=1997 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |quote= | url= |isbn=0231104596 }}</ref>  Skeptics point to the cases reported during the [[day care sex abuse hysteria]] which swept [[United States]] during the 1980s and 1990s, with only occasional cases with Satanic ritual elements perpetrated by lone abusers being substantiated.<ref name=NYT3/> 

An estimated 93% of [[Psychotherapy|therapists]] working with alleged ritual abuse survivors in the early and mid 1990's believed that ritual abuse occurs.<ref name = Noblitt>{{cite book |author=Perskin, Pamela Sue; Noblitt, James Randall |title=Cult and ritual abuse: its history, anthropology, and recent discovery in contemporary America |publisher=Praeger |location=New York |year=2000 |pages= |isbn=0-275-96665-8 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref> Studies have shown a connection between [[dissociative identity disorder]] and SRA, and researchers have found ritualistic abuse in substantiated cases of day care sexual abuse.<ref name = SVB>{{cite journal | last = van Benschoten | first = Susan C.  | year = 1990 | url = https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/bitstream/1794/1492/1/Diss_3_1_5_OCR.pdf | format = pdf | language = english | title = Multiple personality disorder and Satanic ritual abuse: the issue of credibility | journal = Dissociation | volume = 3 | issue = 1 | pages = 22-30}}</ref><ref name = Noblitt/>  Of the more than 12,000 cases examined by the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, only a single case involved actual abuse within a context of Satanic rituals.<ref name = NCCANsurvey>{{citation | source = Clearing House on Child Abuse & Neglect Information | title = Characteristics & Sources of Allegations of Ritual Child Abuse | author = National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect | year = 1994}}; summary of results at {{cite web | url = http://www.religioustolerance.org/ra_rep00.htm | title = US Government study of Childhood Ritual Abuse | language = english | format = html | accessdate = 2007-10-22 | date=  1994 | author = Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance | authorlink = Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance }}</ref>

==Origin of the concept==

The earliest modern account of child sexual assault in a ritualistic context can be found in [[Sigmund Freud|Freud']]s letters regarding his therapeutic work with a patient named [[Emma Eckstein]]. Eckstein described to Freud experiences similar to the ritual abuse survivors of the last few decades, which included sexual abuse and ritual bloodletting. Freud was so disturbed by these disclosures that he theorised "we may have before us a residue of a primaeval sexual cult".<ref>{{cite book |author=Masson, J.M. |title=The Complete Letters of Sigmund Freud to Wilhelm Fliess, 1887-1904 |publisher=Belknap Press |location=Cambridge, Mass |year= |pages= |isbn=0-674-15421-5 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref>

The phrase 'satanic ritual abuse' first arose in the mid-1980s to describe the disclosures of some children in child protection cases, and some adults in [[psychotherapy]].  In the early 1980s there was an exponential increase in child protection investigations in [[United States|America]], [[United Kingdom|Britain]] and other developed countries due to [[mandatory reporting]] laws and increased public awareness of [[child abuse]]. In a small number of investigations, children began speaking about organised and ritualistic forms of [[sexual abuse]] by parents and carergivers.<ref>{{cite book |author=Hechler, David |title=The Battle and the Backlash: The Child Sexual Abuse War |publisher=Macmillan Pub Co |location= |year= |pages= |isbn=0-669-21362-4 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref><ref name=Cozolino1989>{{cite journal | author = Cozolino, L. | year = 1989 | title = The ritual abuse of children: Implications for clinical practice and research | journal = The Journal of Sex Research | volume = 26 | issue = 1 | pages = 131-138}}</ref> Adults in psychotherapy were also speaking about similar experiences in childhood.<ref name=Van1990>{{cite journal | author = Van Benschoten, S.C. | year = 1990 | title = Multiple personality disorder and satanic ritual abuse: The issue of credibility | journal = Dissociation | volume = 1 | issue = 3 | pages = 13-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Conte, Jon R. |title=Critical issues in child sexual abuse: historical, legal, and psychological perspectives |publisher=Sage Publications |location=Thousand Oaks |year=2002 |pages= |isbn=0761909125 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref> These disclosures included descriptions of sexual abuse in the context of Satanic cults, rituals and the use of Satanic iconography, garnering the label "satanic ritual abuse" in the media and amongst treating professionals.

Accounts of SRA were amongst the first wave of autobiographical literature on child abuse that emerged in the early 1980s. One of the most well known is ''[[Michelle Remembers]]'' (1980), written by [[Michelle Smith (author)|Michelle Smith]] and her psychiatrist (and later husband) [[Lawrence Pazder]]. Since the publication of ''Michelle Remembers'', a number of autobiographies have contained accounts of SRA.<ref>{{cite book | last = Beckylane | year = 1995 | title = Where the Rivers Join: A Personal Account of Healing from Ritual Abuse | publisher = [[Press Gang Publishers]] | isbn = 0889740437 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Laura Buchanan |title=Satan's Child: A Survivor Tells Her Story to Help Others Heal |publisher=Compcare Pubns |location= |year= |pages= |isbn=0-89638-327-X |oclc= |doi=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Anna Richardson |title=Double Vision: A Travelogue of Recovery from Ritual Abuse |publisher=Trilogy Books |location=Pasadena, Calif |year= |pages= |isbn=0-9623879-7-5 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref> Others have written books which gather life histories, stories and creative reflections on organised abuse and living with multiple personalities.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ryder, Daniel |title=Breaking the Circle of Satanic Ritual Abuse: Recognizing and Recovering from the Hidden Trauma |publisher=Compcare Pubns |location= |year= |pages= |isbn=0-89638-258-3 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Smith, Margaret |title=Ritual abuse: what it is, why it happens, and how to help |publisher=HarperSanFrancisco |location=[San Francisco] |year=1993 |pages= |isbn=0-06-250214-X |oclc= |doi=}}</ref>  Over the last twenty years, a number of clinicians, psychotherapists and social workers have documented their encounters with clients who describe history of SRA.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Barstow | first = D. G. | year = 1996 | title = The end of the sidewalk: Where do I go from here? | journal = Journal of Child Sexual Abuse | volume = 5 | issue = 4 | pages = 125-30}}</ref><ref name = VS>{{cite book |author=Sinason, Valerie |title=Treating survivors of satanist abuse |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=1994 |pages= |isbn=0-415-10543-9 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref><ref name=Jonker1991>{{cite journal | author = Jonker, F. | coauthors = Jonker-bakker, P. | year = 1991 | title = Experiences with ritualist child sexual abuse: a case study from the Netherlands | journal = Child Abuse and Neglect | volume = 15 | pages = 191-196 | url = http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ429991  | accessdate = 2007-10-20}}</ref><ref name="isbn0-471-95292-3">{{cite book |author=Mollon, Phil |title=Multiple Selves, Multiple Voices: Working with Trauma, Violation, and Dissociation |publisher=Wiley |location=New York |year=1996 |pages= |isbn=0-471-95292-3 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref>  There is also a body of work outlining treatment plans and modalities for survivors of ritualistic abuse, much of which focuses on [[dissociative identity disorder]] and similar diagnoses.<ref name="isbn0-88048-478-0">{{cite book |author=Fraser, George C. |title=The Dilemma of Ritual Abuse: Cautions and Guides for Therapists |publisher=American Psychiatric Press |location=Washington, DC |year=1997 |pages= |isbn=0-88048-478-0 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Ross, Colin A. |title=Satanic Ritual Abuse: Principles of Treatment |publisher=University of Toronto Press |location=Toronto |year=1995 |pages= |isbn=0-8020-2857-8 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref>, and a body of research into dislcosures of SRA. This research has found a consistent association between diclsoures of SRA, and disclosures of abuse by intra and extra-familial groups, including physical abuse, sexual abuse and forced manufacture of [[pornography]], forced ingestion of [[feces]] and [[semen]], animal mutilation, and control over victims through the claim of supernatural powers.<ref name=Snow1990>{{cite journal | author = Snow, B. | coauthors = Sorensen, T. | year = 1990 | title = Ritualistic child abuse in a neighborhood setting | journal = Journal of Interpersonal Violence | volume = 5 | issue = 4 | pages = 474 | doi = 10.1177/088626090005004004}}</ref><ref name = Jonker1991/><ref>{{cite journal |author=Jonker F, Jonker-Bakker I |title=Effects of ritual abuse: the results of three surveys in The Netherlands |journal=Child abuse & neglect |volume=21 |issue=6 |pages=541–56 |year=1997 |pmid=9192143 |doi= |issn=}}</ref>

There is a diverse body of skeptical literature on SRA. [[Sociologists]] and [[journalists]] noted the vigorous nature with which some evangelical activists and groups were using claims of SRA to further their religious and political goals <ref> e.g. see Victor, J. "Satanic Panic, Creation of a Contemporary Legend", Open Court Publishing Company, 1993</ref>. Other commentators suggested that the entire phenomenon may evidence of a “[[moral panic]]” over Satanism and child abuse <ref>de Young, M. (1996). "A Painted Devil: Constructing the Satanic Ritual Abuse of Children Problem." Aggression and Violent Behaviour 1(3): 2335-248</ref>. Some skeptical explanations for allegations of SRA have been mutually exclusive; for instance, conservative commentators have claimed that allegations of SRA are an attempt by “radical feminists” to undermine the nuclear family<ref>Wakefield, H. and R. Underwager (1994). Return of the Furies: An Investigation into Recovered Memory Therapy. Chicago and La Salle, Illinois, Open Court</ref>, whilst progressive commentators have viewed claims of SRA as evidence of a conservative backlash against working women <ref> Nathan, D. and M. Snedeker (2001). Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt, Authors Choice Press</ref>or gay childcare workers<ref> Hood, L. (2001). A City Possessed: The Christchurch Civic Creche Case, Longacre Press</ref>. Others have attributed allegations of SRA to a universal need to believe in evil<ref> Frankfurter, D. (2001). "Ritual as Accusation and Atrocity: Satanic Ritual Abuse, Gnostic Libertinism and Primal Murders." History of Religions 40(4): 352 – 80, Frankfurter, D. (2006). Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Ritual Abuse in History. Princeton, Princeton University Press</ref>, a fear of alternative spiritualities<ref> La Fontaine, J. S. (1998). Speak of the devil : tales of satanic abuse in contemporary England. Cambridge, New York, Cambridge University Press</ref>, “end of the millennium” anxieties<ref> Showalter, E. (1997). "Hystories: Hysterical epidemics and modern culture." in. London, Picador</ref>, or even a transient form of temporal lobe epilepsy<ref> Paley, J. (1997). "Satanist abuse and alien abduction: A comparative analysis theorizing temporal lobe activity as a possible connection ebtween anomalous memories." British Journal of Social Work 27: 43-70</ref>.

Whether their explanation is "moral panic" or "false memory syndrome", skeptics have tended to treat allegations of SRA as viral agents that can be spread through conferences, seminars, books, television programs and court cases, or through contact with healthcare workers or professionals who believe in SRA. In the skeptical literature, cases of SRA have been described in terms of an infectious illness, such as "rashes" <ref>e.g. see Nathan, D. (1990). "Never Forget the McMartin Case." The San Francisco Chronicle. 12 August: 20/Z1, Guilliatt, R. (1995). "Daughter Claims Memory of Ritual Abuse." Sydney Morning Herald. 13 May, Goodlin, L. (2002). "Recovered Memory; Unproven strategy to find evidence of past sexual abuse." The Post-Standard Syracuse. 24 September, New York: A9, Radford, B. (2004). "Canadian Defendants Victorious in Ritual Abuse Case." Skeptical Inquirer 28(2): 12</ref>, “psychogenic syndromes" or "hysterical epidemics" <ref>Showalter, E. (1997). "Hystories: Hysterical epidemics and modern culture." in. London, Picador.</ref>, infectious “memetic” agents <ref> Ross, S. E. (1999). ""Memes" as Infectious Agents in Psychosomatic Illness." Annals of Internal Medicine 131(11): 867-71.</ref>, symptoms of a “mediasomatic ailment”<ref>Nesvisky, M. (1997). "Mediasomatic ailments." The Jerusalem Post. 22 August: 22.</ref>, or simply the “madness in the air” <ref>Appleyard, B. (1998). "Lost in the dark shadows of child abuse." The Sunday Times. 31 May.</ref>. When cases of ritual abuse emerged outside North America, journalists and researchers accused American child abuse researchers of "spreading" the epidemic of SRA allegations by mentioning it at international conferences and training workshops .<ref>e.g. see Waterhouse, R. (1991). "Therapists Role in Notts Child Abuse Case." Independent on Sunday. 7 April: 3, Witham, L. (1994). "Satanic ritual abuse: Modern horror or hoax? Credibility of 'survivors' is under attack." The Washington Post. 15 June: A9, Guilliatt, R. (1996). "The Devil's Advocates." Sydney Morning Herald. 31 August, Frankfurter, D. (2001). "Ritual as Accusation and Atrocity: Satanic Ritual Abuse, Gnostic Libertinism and Primal Murders." History of Religions 40(4): 352 - 80.</ref>

By the early 1990s, the phrase "satanic ritual abuse" was featured in media coverage of ritualistic abuse but its use decreased among professionals in favour of more nuanced terms such as "multi-dimensional child sex rings"<ref name = Lanning/> "ritual/ritualistic",<ref>{{cite book |author=Hudson, Pamela S. |title=Ritual child abuse: discovery, diagnosis, and treatment |publisher=R&E Publishers |location=Saratoga, Calif |year=1991 |pages= |isbn=0882478672 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref><ref name = VOV/> "organised"<ref name="isbn1-85742-284-8"/> or "sadistic" abuse,<ref name = VS/> that acknowledged the complexity of abuse cases with multiple perpetrators and victims without projecting a religious framework onto perpetrators.

==Evidence==
The prevalence of any form of sexual abuse is difficult to quantify, and this is particularly the case in regards to SRA. There is little consensus on a definition of SRA,<ref name = Lanning/> and its existence is challenged in some quarters.<ref name = RT/><ref name="Skepdic"/>  Nonetheless, there are some research findings that shed some light on the prevalence of SRA.

Research in [[Australia]] and [[United Kingdom|Britain]] suggests that between a third and a quarter of psychotherapists, social workers and counselors have encountered at least one client who discloses allegations of ritualistic abuse.<ref name=Andrews1995>{{cite journal | author = Andrews, B. | coauthors = Morton, J.; Bekerian, D.A.; Brewin, C.R.; Davies, G.M.; Mollon, P. | year = 1995 | title = The recovery of memories in clinical practice: Experiences and beliefs of British Psychological Society practitioners | journal = The Psychologist | volume = 8 | pages = 209-214}}</ref><ref name=Creighton1993>{{cite journal | author = Creighton, S.J. | year = 1993 | title = Organized abuse: NSPCC experience | journal = Child Abuse Review| volume = 2 | pages = 232-232}}</ref><ref name=Schmuttermaier1999>{{cite journal | author = Schmuttermaier, J. | coauthors = Veno, A. | year = 1999 | title = Counselors' beliefs about ritual abuse: an Australian study | journal = Journal of Child Sexual Abuse | volume = 8 | issue = 3 | pages = p45-63 | url = http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ607651  | accessdate = 2007-10-22}}</ref>  These findings are supported by a comprehensive survey undertaken in America in 1996 in which a minority of psychologist members of the [[American Psychological Association]] who responded had encountered at least one client telling of "ritualistic or religion-related" abuse, and the majority believed their clients.<ref name=Bottoms1996>{{cite journal | author = Bottoms, B.L. | coauthors = Shaver, P.R.; Goodman, G.S. | year = 1996 | title = An analysis of ritualistic and religion-related child abuse allegations | journal = Law and Human Behavior | volume = 20 | issue = 1 | pages = 1-34 | url = http://www.springerlink.com/index/Q40489P813183L15.pdf  | accessdate = 2007-10-22}}</ref> Over 12 000 cases of clients with a history of organised and ritualistic abuse were reported by respondents, however, where the survey asked respondents to detail empirical or corroborating evidence for such histories, the researchers felt that there was insufficient basis to conclude that these histories were based on factual events.<ref name=Bottoms1996/>  In the late 1980s, a BBC survey of British police forces found that, of 186 cases of network abuse where either multiple abusers or multiple abused children were known to each other, only five involved claims of ritual or satanic abuse.<ref>{{cite news | last = Brindle | first = D. | date=  1990-10-19 | title = Ritual abuse occurs 'in 1 in 40 child sex rings| publisher = [[The Guardian]]}}</ref> In another British study, 29% of the 211 cases of organised [[child sexual abuse]] reported to researchers by police, social and welfare agencies from the period of 1988 to 1991 were designated "ritual abuse" cases by respondents.<ref>{{citation | last = Gallagher | first = B | coauthors = Hughes, B. & Parker, H | year = 1996 | title = The nature and extent of known cases of organised child sexual abuse in England and Wales}}; in {{cite book | first = P. (ed.) | last = Bibby | title = Organised Abuse: The Current Debate | publisher = Arena | isbn = 1857422848 }}</ref>  However, in 1996 a survey by the [[United States]] National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect of more than 12,000 cases found only a single verifiable case of abuse which involved explicit Satanic ritual elements.<ref name = NCCANsurvey/>

==SRA in the courts==

Early criminal trials in America and [[United Kingdom|Britain]] involving allegations of organised and ritualistic abuse were characterised by acquittals, hung juries, and successful appeals. The failure of these high-profile cases generated worldwide media attention, and came to play a central feature in the growing controversies over child abuse, memory and the law.<ref name="isbn0393702545 ">{{cite book |author=Hammond, D. Corydon; Brown, Daniel P.; Scheflin, Alan W. |title=Memory, trauma treatment, and the law |publisher=W.W. Norton |location=New York |year=1998 |pages= |isbn=0393702545 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref><ref name="isbn0745323316 ">{{cite book |author=Kitzinger, Jenny |title=Framing abuse: media influence and public understanding of sexual violence against children |publisher=Pluto |location= |year=2004 |pages= |isbn=0745323316 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref>  Public anxiety that an innocent adult could be subject to prosecution for sexual abuse based on false testimony was inflamed by the bizarre nature of children’s allegations in ritual abuse cases. Some community groups, such as the [[False Memory Syndrome Foundation]], lobbied the press and policy-makers to contest accounts of organised and ritualistic abuse, whilst clinicians, police and healthcare workers struggled to accommodate cases of satanic ritual abuse within their professional practice.<ref name="isbn1-85742-284-8">{{cite book |author=Bibby, Peter A. |title=Organised Abuse: The Current Debate |publisher=Arena |location=Aldershot, England |year= |pages= |isbn=1-85742-284-8 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref>  This controversy was compounded by a number of factors, including the absence of evidence-based forensic interviewing techniques with children, a lack of protocols to facilitate collaboration between police and welfare agencies investigating child abuse, and the failure of the justice system to adjust to children testifying in courts. 

During this period, the justice system also failed to recognize the harmful impact of the court process on young children. Whilst screens or CCTV technology are a common feature of child sexual assault trials today, children in the early 1980s were typically forced into direct visual contact with the accused abuser whilst in court. Early efforts to address a young child's anxiety over confronting their accused abuser sometimes provided grounds for a successful appeal.<ref>{{cite news | last = Weber | first = D | coauthors = Donlan, A. | title = Pair in day care molest case get 2nd trial | publisher = [[Boston Herald]] | date = 1995-08-30| page = 3 | url = http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/bostonherald/access/20531100.html?dids=20531100:20531100&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Aug+30%2C+1995&author=DAVID+WEBER+and+ANN+E.+DONLAN&pub=Boston+Herald&edition=&startpage=001&desc=Pair+in+day+care+molest+case+get+2nd+trial | accessdate = 2007-11-20}} (abstract)</ref>

In the McMartin ritual abuse case, children as young as ten were subject to hostile cross-examination for over two weeks.<ref>{{cite news | last = Flynn | first = G | title = Parents plead to spare molested kids new pain| publisher = [[The San Diego Union-Tribune]] | date = 1985-03-01 | pages = 1-4}}</ref> The McMartin case sparked a program of legislative reform in recognition of the harm that children testifying in court and the justice system face.  It also catalyzed a broad agenda of research into the nature of children's testimony and the reliability of their oral evidence in court. The findings of this research is somewhat ambiguous, suggesting that neither children nor adults are immune to suggestive interviewing techniques but even extremely suggestive techniques do not inevitably lead to false reports.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ceci SJ, Kulkofsky S, Klemfuss JZ, Sweeney CD, Bruck M |title=Unwarranted Assumptions about Children's Testimonial Accuracy |journal=Annual review of clinical psychology |volume=3 |issue= |pages=311–28 |year=2007 |pmid=17716058 |doi=10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.3.022806.091354}}</ref>

==Dissociative Identity Disorder and SRA==

In the 1980s, children and adults with a life history of ritualistic abuse were presenting to healthcare providers with uncanny alterations to their consciousness, memories and identities. They were often unresponsive or resistant to forms of treatment that had proven effective with other survivors of child abuse <ref>Bloom, S. (1994). "Hearing the Survivor's Voice: Sundering the Wall of Denial." The Journal of Psychohistory 21(4): 461 - 77</ref>, and they demonstrated higher levels of distress and trauma-related symptoms <ref>Noblitt, J. R. (1995). "Psychometric measures of trauma among psychiatric patients reporting ritual abuse." Psychological Reports 77(3): 743 - 7</ref>. In particular, children and adults with a history of ritualistic abuse were found to be extremely dissociative, and they were increasingly being diagnosed with [[Multiple Personality Disorder]] (MPD) <ref>Van Benschoten, S. C. (1990). "Multiple Personality Disorder and Satanic Ritual Abuse: The Issue of Credibility." Dissociation 3(1): 22 - 30</ref>.
 
[[MPD]] was a recognised as a psychological illness in the 1980 publication of the [[Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders]] (DSM-III), but it was a controversial diagnosis that had previously been considered extremely rare. As children and adults disclosing a history of SRA presented to healthcare providers with increasing frequency, diagnoses of MPD increased accordingly. Amongst those sceptical of MPD and/or SRA, the [[correlation]] between the two was seen as further evidence that people disclosing a history of SRA were not reliable witnesses to their own lives, and that the professionals providing them with care and support were engaged in malpractice <ref> e.g. Pendergrast, M. (1995). Victims of Memory: Incest Accusations and Shattered Lives, Upper Access Books</ref>. 
 
Criticisms of MPD (now called [[Dissociative Identity Disorder]]) have largely died away following numerous research studies and meta-analyses confirming the construct validity of the diagnosis <ref>e.g. Elzinga, B. M., R. van Dyck and P. Spinhoven (1998). "Three Controversies About Dissociative Identity Disorder." Clinical Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy 5: 13-23</ref>, and the standardisation of evidence-based treatment for the disorder <ref>International Society for the Study of Dissociation, J. A. Chu, O. Van der Hart, C. J. Dalenberg, E. R. S. Nijenhuis, E. S. Bowman, S. Boon, J. M. Goodwin, M. Jacobson, C. A. Ross, V. Sar, C. G. Fine, A. S. Frankel, P. M. Coons, C. A. Courtois, S. N. Gold and E. Howell (2005). "Guidelines for Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder." Journal of Trauma and Dissociation 6(4)</ref>. However, the reliability of memories of SRA elucidated by clients in treatment for MPD has been a major point of contention in the popular media and amongst clinicians. Some healthcare professionals continue to express ambivalence over the reliability of narratives of SRA provided by patients, although most acknowledge that such a narrative is likely to be indicative of serious victimisation and trauma. 

The controversies over SRA and MPD have prompted a significant program of research into the reliability of early memories of extreme trauma, the findings of which suggest that such material is encoded differently in the brain, and that the accuracy of it’s recall is impacted upon by the other consequences of early trauma, including dysregulation of affect and impulses, somatisation, and profound changes to self-perception, psychosocial wellbeing and systems of meaning <ref>Van der Kolk, B. A., S. Roth, D. Pelcovitz, S. Sunday and J. Spinazzola (2005). "Disorders of Extreme Stress: The Empirical Foundation of a Complex Adaptation to Trauma." Journal of Traumatic Stress 18(5): 389-99</ref>.

==Specific cases==
===Australia===
====Perth, Western Australia====
In [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]], [[1991]], police claimed to have proven a link between "organised [[child sexual abuse]] and [[devil worship]]" following the confession of a self-confessed [[Satanist]] and former [[Boy Scout]] leader to the [[sexual]] abuse of number of young boys in the context of Satanic rituals. The defence claimed that Scott Gozenton, 20, had been sexually abused as a child before being drawn into a group of people who practiced "Satanic" and ritualistic sex with adults and children. Gozenton's lawyer alleged that numerous "covens" were operating in Perth, and that Gozenton had sexually abused the boys in his Boy Scout troop in order to recruit them for the group. Gozenton's defence also claimed that Gozenton had been followed and threatened by "coven" members throughout the court proceedings. <ref>David Humphries, "Child Sex Abuse Linked With Satanism: Police", Sydney Morning Herald, 1991</ref>

====Mornington Peninsula, Victoria====

In the late [[1980s]], a number of children at a daycare centre in the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, began disclosing experiences of organised and ritualistic sexual abuse to their parents and the police<ref>Caroline Milburn, "First Child-abuse Claims Were In 1989, Says Police", The Age, 9 March 1992, p4</ref>. Their disclosures included instances in which they were taken in a car from the creche to a nearby house, undressed by adults and sexually assaulted, video-taped and filmed while naked, and urinated and defecated upon by adults. The children disclosed that some of the abusers wore police uniforms, masks and costumes<ref>Caroline Milburn, "Parents Alerted By Their Toddlers' Nightmares", The Age, 4 March 1992, p4</ref>. 

In [[1992]], a government inquiry ordered that the daycare centre be shut on the basis that there was significant evidence that the owner of the centre had either participated in the abuse or facilitated it<ref>Caroline Milburn, Child-care Centre Shut. Inquiry Finds Sexual Abuse Of Children, The Age, 3 March 1992, p1</ref>. This include forensic evidence that some of the children had been sexually penetrated. The police never pressed charges against the couple, who later fled to Queensland and, in a serious breach of privacy laws, published the names and addresses of all the complainant children online<ref>Matt Doran, Parents say fine an insult $800 penalty for net claims, Mornington Peninsular Leader, 2 August 2005</ref>. 

In [[2002]], Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon refers complaints about the mishandling of the case by police to the Victorian Ombudsman. An officer from the Ethical Standards Department was stood down a year later from the Ombudsman's investigation for "incompetence" after failing to pass on information from two key witnesses, and claiming that he never spoke to them when phone records proved that he had. One of the witnesses referred to a tape of [[child pornography]] showing men in police uniforms sexually assaulted children from the daycare centre, however, this lead was never followed up by the police. Another witness identified the house in which the children had been assaulted as being owned by a police officer<ref>Matt Doran, Justice is too late for family, Mornington Peninsular Leader, 4 May 2004, p 1 - 8)</ref>.

The principal of a private college on the Mornington Peninsula repeatedly told the Department of Human Services that a 12-year-old boy disclosed ongoing sexual abuse by an organised group of men wearing police uniforms. According to the principal, all records of the child's complaint vanished. A Victoria Police spokesman said he was not aware that files had disappeared. The police declined to press charges, saying the boy had been "too well groomed" by the pedophiles and probably would not testify in court.<ref>Gary Hughes, [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/18/1082226635777.html Police files on sex abuse ‘vanished’], The Age, April 19 2004</ref>.

In [[2004]], the Office of Police Integrity found that the police investigation into the abuse of the children at the preschool had been inadequate and ordered a re-opening of the investigation<ref>Gary Hughes, Police 'failed' on child sex abuse cases, The Age, 8 July 2004, p1</ref>.

====Dandenong Ranges, Victoria====

In [[2000]], a journalist from the Herald-Sun interviewed three women who stated they had been subject to SRA, organised abuse, child pornogrpahy and child prostitution by their parents, who they allege were involved in a network of sexual abusers based in the Dandenong Ranges.<ref>Mark Dunn, Breaking Free From Cult, Herald-Sun, 10 November 2000, p 21</ref>

====Melbourne, Victoria====
In [[1998]], Robin Angus Fletcher was jailed for eight years after pleading guilty to the sexual and ritual abuse of two children. Fletcher had extensive involvement in a satanic cult<ref>Fletcher's involvement in a satanic cult is detailed by police files, printed in the chapter "The Satanist" in Vicki Petraitis, "Rockspider, the danger of paedophiles - untold stories", Ormond, Vic. : Hybrid, 1999</ref>, and previous convictions for false imprisonment, indecent assault, managing a brothel and living off earnings of prostitution<ref>Geoff Wilkinson, Monsters go free: Pedophiles win legal challenges, Herald Sun, 28 September 2006, p1</ref>. Along with his wife, he was found to have used hypnosis and ritualistic abuse to sexually abuse and prostitute two children in the mid-1990s. Whilst in jail, he attempted to have the two children murdered in order to prevent them from testifying against him <ref>Peter Gregory, Witch Jailed For Teen Sex, 5 March 1998, The Age, p9</ref>. 

In [[2001]], the Melbourne diocese of the [[Catholic Church]] acknowledged as "substantially true" allegations that a Melbourne priest took part in Satanic ritual abuse in which a number of deaths occurred in the 1960s, and paid compensation to a surviving victim. <ref>Gary Hughes, Church pays victim of sex and death rituals: Priest's satanic life, Herald Sun, 26 May 2006</ref>

====Central Coast, New South Wales====
In 1999, two journalists from the Sun-Herald claimed to have seen evidence of the ritual abuse of children. They interviewed six mothers whose children had disclosed experiences of SRA and organised abuse in New South Wales. The children's disclosures were corroborating, although they had never met one another, and they had been able to draw 'satanic' ritual sites which where similar to ritual sites uncovered by police on the central coast of New South Wales. One mother stated that her sons remembered beind drugged and hypnotised. "He said they dressed in black robes and had eye and mouth pieces cut out," she said. "I know they're pretty dangerous people. I have had warnings outside the house telling me to stop investigations. We're fearful for our lives. The boys never want me out of their sight." <ref>Miranda Wood and martin Chulov, Evil In The Woods, The Sun Herald, 8 August 1999, p 7</ref>.

===Belgium===
{{main|Marc Dutroux}}
During the investigation of the very high profile [[Marc Dutroux]] case, a number of women approached police claiming to be adult survivors of a network of sexual offenders.<ref>{{cite journal | first = Liz | last = Kelly | url = http://www.cwasu.org/filedown.asp?file=Confronting%20An%20Atrocity(1).pdf | format = pdf | title = Confronting an atrocity: The Dutroux case | journal = Trouble & Strife | volume = 36 | year = 1998 | publisher = CWASU: Child & Woman Abuse Studies website}}</ref>.  The disclosures of these women, known as the "X Witnesses", became the infamous "X-Dossiers", and they included accounts of SRA, child murder, child pornography and child prostitution by a number of men, including Dutroux. The X-Witnesses were widely dismissed by the Belgian media, although they solved a number of missing person's cases by directing the police to the bodies of murdered children and women and they knew unpublished details about a number of unsolved murders.

In relation to SRA, Regina Louf (Witness X1) stated in interview, " When they received new victims into their network, it was extremely important that they shouldn’t speak to anyone about what had happened to them. That’s why they organised ‘ceremonies’. They took the victim to a heavily guarded house and convinced her that it was ‘her’ party. There would then be a great performance with masks, candles, inverted crosses, swords and animals. Rabbits were disembowelled, the blood was poured on naked girls, and some men and women worshipped the devil ... The only aim of these rituals was to totally disorient the victims. They plagued these kids with a load of nonsense - ‘Now you are the wife of Satan’ – and also gave them coke, LSD or heroin. I can assure you that after that you feel completely outside the real world. That was the aim – that the victim herself should begin to doubt the fact that all this had really happened. The result was that the victims didn’t dare speak to anyone."<ref>Annemie Bulté and Douglas de Coninck, [http://www.radicalparty.org/belgium/x1_eng7.htm Interview With Regina Lou, Witness XI at Neufchateau], De Morgen, 10 January 1998, retrieved October 19 2007</ref>

===Argentina===

In [[2006]], a 12-year-old homeless boy called Ramon Ignacio Gonzalez was ritualistically raped, tortured and murdered in the northeastern Argentinian province of Corrientes. Police believe that the ritualistic murder combined different Afro-Brazilian and satanic practices, and they are investigating the involvement of a local satanic cult.

The boy "was raped, impaled, tortured with cigarette burns, decapitated while still alive and then all the blood was drained from his body. They removed all the skin from his body, as well as his tongue, throat and several vertebrae", said the province's chief prosecutor..<ref>[http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22763370-663,00.html Boy killed and mutilated in macabre ritual], The Herald Sun, November 15 2007</ref>.

===Brazil===

In the early 1990s, Superior Universal Alignment, an Argentinian-based international cult, was implicated in the ritualistic murders of several children. One of the leaders of the group, Osvaldo Marcineiro, confessed to murdering a number of young children in Satanic rituals, in which the children were tortured, murdered and their body parts cannibalised. A number of prominent citizens were arrested in relation to the murders, and it later emerged that they had paid the cult to conduct the murderous ceremonies. A search on cult member's houses turned up cult registers, guns, hooded cloaks, 100 videotapes of cult ceremonies and satanist publications, including a 200-page book by cult leader Valentina de Andrade called "God, the Great Farce." Brazilian authorities suggested that the cult was connected to Satanic groups internationally. <ref>Todd Lewan, Satanic Cult Killings Spread Fear in Southern Brazil, The Associated Press, 26 October 1992</ref>

In [[2003]], five members of the Superior Universal Alignment cult in the Amazonian town of Altamira were convicted for the ritualistic murders of three children and the castration of two others. The victims were aged between 8 and 13 years, and they were kidnapped, tortured or killed between 1989 and 1993. Their genitals were removed and used in Satanic rituals by 75-year old village clairvoyant, Valentina de Andrade, the leader of the Superior Universal Alignment cult <ref>Gamini, Gabriella, "Seer for trial in voodoo murders", The Times, 9 September 2003</ref>. de Andrade had previously been sought by police in Argentina and Uruguay prior to her arrest in Brazil on suspicion of involvement in other satanic ritual killings<ref>The Cult Observer (American Family Foundation), Vol. 10 No. 5, 1993</ref>.

Following the castration of victims, two doctors involved in the sect removed the victim's other organs for sale on the international black market <ref>Doctor gets 56 years for Brazil sect killings, 11 September 2003, Reuters News and Five</ref>. Other people sentenced in relation to the murders included a former police officer, a businessman and the son of an influential landowner. The charges related to the murders of three young children and the attempted murder of another, however, victim's families say that there were at least nineteen other murdered children. The cult is based in Argentina and has branches in Holland <ref>More information on allegations of satanic child sacrifice in the Superior Universal Alignment cult can be found at the [http://www.apologeticsindex.org/s52.html Apologetics Index]</ref>.

===Germany===
Several "mass child abuse" scares took place in [[Coesfeld]], [[Worms, Germany|Worms]] and [[Nordhorn]], where violent rituals and underground tunnel networks were alleged; all the accused were later acquitted.{{Fact|date=October 2007}}

===Ireland===

In [[2006]], a jury at [[Dublin]] Country Coroner's court unanimously ruled that the infant found stabbed to death over three decades ago belonged to Cynthia Owen. The court found that the infant Noleen was fathered by Owen's father and murdered by Owen's mother shortly after birth. 

During the trial, Owen detailed her childhood history of incest, organised abuse, and satanic ritual abuse orchestrated by her parents involving at least nine other men and her account was supported by her psychologist <ref>Darren Boyle, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20070218/ai_n18641104 Alleged Abusers 'still risk']</ref>. She claimed that her brother and sister Michael and Therese were also abused, a charge that was denied by her older brother and father. Michael and Therese both committed suicide in 2005, and Therese's detailed 37-paged suicide note corroborated Cynthia's account.<ref name = cusack>Jim Cusack,[http://www.independent.ie/unsorted/features/a-horrifying-past-that-society-seems-unable-to-confront-131255.html A horrifying past that society seems unable to confront], The Independent, June 11 2006</ref> A friend of Therese's testified at the trial, stating that Therese had spoken to him at length about her sexual abuse in childhood<ref>Breaking News, [http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2005/09/30/story223277.asp Childhood sex abuse caused woman's suicide], inquest told, Sept 30 2006</ref>. It also emerged in trial that Therese was the child of one of Owen's older sisters by Owen's father.<ref name = cusack/>

Following the findings of the Coroner's Court, Owen has raised questions regarding the disposal of her daughter's body and the failure of the police to investigate the murder. In particular, she has highlighted the fact that no blood or tissue samples were kept, that the bag and sanitary towels found alongside the murdered child have gone missing, that the records of the first inquest into the murder have gone missing, and that her daughter was buried in a mass grave alongside other infants that, it has recently emerged, were subject to illegal experimentation.<ref name = cusack/>

===Italy===

In [[1998]], six adults from the Emilia Romagna region were arrested for allegedly prostituting their children to a child sex ring. The arrests followed the conviction of eight people in the region in 2005 for their role on a child sex ring, and child witnesses in this case had tipped police off to the existence of second ring in the area. The child witnesses disclosed being taken to cemetaries and houses in the country for abuse by up to 30 adults, some of whom wore animal masks to conceal their identities. Alleged incidences of abuse included 'satanic' forms of abuse and the manufacture of child pornography. One child told of being taken to the cemetery with another child and a new born baby, when nine adults performed a funeral ceremony for the other children. "But I believed everything was just pretend," he said. "We were locked in a chest with a cross on top. We cried. We were really frightened. Inside there it was dark, the lid was heavy and we couldn't open it." At the end of the ceremonies the children were told that they too had become "children of the devil." <ref> Kevin Buckley, Children 'rented out' for satanic sex abuse, Scotland on Sunday, 15 November 1998, p 21</ref>

In [[2002]], four people were arrested for "Satanism and paedophilia" following a police operation in the central city of Pescara. Police believed that the group may have abused dozens of children in rituals involving bodies stolen from ceremonies. The cult leader was charged with a series of crimes, including sexual abuse, attempted kidnapping, violence, mistreatment and giving drugs to minors. His sister was suspected of destroying evidence, including hundreds of photographs, videotapes, amulets, chalices and tunics. <ref>Agence France-Press, Italians arrested for satanism and child abuse, 16 October 2002</ref>

In [[2006]], five members of the cult "Beasts of Satan" were jailed for three ritualistic murders. <ref>Geneviève Roberts, EUROPE: Satanists jailed for ritual murders, The Independent, 1 February 2006, p 18</ref>. The victims included the girlfriend of the cult leader, a young runaway who had joined the group, and a woman apparently intended as a human sacrifice. Police speculated that the cult may have killed the two members for attempted to save the life of the woman they planned to sacrifice. Victims were shot, stabbed and buried alive. <ref>Peter Popham, The Death Metal Murders: Monsters of Rock, The Independent, 24 November 2005, p 26-27</ref>

In April of 2007, six people were arrested for sexually abusing fifteen children in [[Rignano Flaminio]].  The suspects were accused of filming the children engaged in sexual acts with 'satanic' overtones.<ref>{{cite news | title = Grandmothers arrested over satanic sex abuse at school | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1706340.ece | last = Owen | first = Richard | date = [[April 26]], [[2007]] | accessdate = 2007-08-16 | quote = Three women teachers were among six people arrested yesterday accused of sedating and sexually abusing children as young as 3 at a school near Rome. The teachers — two of whom are grandmothers who had taught at the school and at Sunday school for decades — are said to have part in the repeated abuse of 15 children aged 3 and 5 for a year, filming them in sexual acts with satanic overtones at the teachers’ homes and in a wood.  |publisher = [[TimesOnline]] }}</ref>

===The Netherlands===

In [[1989]] some parents alleged in the news magazine ''Tijdsein'' published by the religious broadcasting company [[Evangelische Omroep]] that their children had witnessed SRA in school and that children were ritually abused in [[Oude Pekela]] in [[1987]].{{fact}} In that case only ‘normal’ sexual abuse was reported then to the authorities, who were not able to find any proof of the alleged abuse. According to Tijdsein, the parents, as well as psychiatrist Gerrit Mik, who examined 25 of the 70 allegedly abused children in Oude Pekela, told the investigating officers about the ritual slaughter of children and adults, but the authorities in Oude Pekela would have denied that.<ref>Beetstra, Tjalling A., Massahysterie in de Verenigde Staten en Nederland: De affaire rond de McMartin Pre-School en het ontuchtschandaal in Oude Pekela, in: Peter Burger and Willem Koetsenruijter (Eds.), ''Mediahypes en moderne sagen: Sterke verhalen in het nieuws'', Leiden, Stichting Neerlandistiek Leiden, 2004, p. 53-69; ''Tijdsein'' (EO), 14 June 1989.</ref> Fred Jonker and Ietje Jonker-Bakker, two general practitioners from Oude Pekela, alleged in several articles that the children were both sexually and ritually abused,<ref>Jonker, Fred and Ietje Jonker-Bakker, Experiences with Ritualist Child Sexual Abuse: A Case Study from The Netherlands, in: ''International Journal on Child Abuse and Neglect'', Vol. 15, Nr. 3, 1991, p. 191-196; Jonker, Fred en Ietje Jonker-Bakker, Onderzoek in Oude Pekela, in: ''Maandblad Geestelijke volksgezondheid'', Jrg. 49, Nr. 3, 1994, p. 251-276.</ref>  but their findings were heavily criticised by American and Dutch scholars.<ref>Beetstra, Tjalling A., Massahysterie in de Verenigde Staten en Nederland: De affaire rond de McMartin Pre-School en het ontuchtschandaal in Oude Pekela, in: Peter Burger en Willem Koetsenruijter (red.), ''Mediahypes en moderne sagen: Sterke verhalen in het nieuws'', Leiden, Stichting Neerlandistiek Leiden, 2004, p. 58-62 and 65; Crombag, Hans F.M. en Harald L.G.J. Merckelbach, ''Hervonden herinneringen en andere misverstanden'', Amsterdam/Antwerpen, Contact, 1996, p. 183-186; Putnam, Frank W., The Satanic Ritual Abuse Controversy, in: ''International Journal on Child Abuse and Neglect'', Vol. 15, Nr. 3, 1991, p. 175-179; Wessel, Ineke en Harald L.G.J. Merckelbach, Onderzoek in Oude Pekela (2), in: ''Maandblad Geestelijke volksgezondheid'', Jrg. 49, Nr. 5, 1994, p. 554-556.</ref>

In [[1991]] both the Youth Protection and Probation Branch from the Justice Department and the Chief Inspectorate for the public health service of the Netherlands were for the first time officially informed about satanic ritual abuse by a child custody agency.<ref>Fauwe, Loes de, Ritueel misbruik van kinderen voor satan, in: ''Het Parool'', 12 June 1993.</ref> On 17 September 1992 the Youth Protection Inspectorate wrote to the minister of Public Health and the state secretary of Justice that until [[August 1992]] youth protection agencies in the provinces [[Noord-Holland]] and [[Utrecht]] had reported the satanic ritual abuse of eleven juveniles.<ref> Aanh. Hand. II, 1992-1993, Nr. 770.</ref> Although the authorities now officially knew about satanic ritual abuse, no further steps were taken. Only when secular media reported that satanic ritual abuse was prevalent in the Netherlands on account of the findings of the psychotherapists Suzette Boon and Nel Draijer<ref>Boon, Suzette and Nel Draijer, ''Multiple Personality Disorder in the Netherlands: A Study on Reliability and Validity of the Diagnosis'', Amsterdam/Lisse, Swets en Zeitlinger, 1993; Fauwe, Loes de, Ritueel misbruik van kinderen voor satan, in: ''Het Parool'', 12 June 1993; ''Nova'' (NOS/VARA), 28-29 June 1993.</ref> did the state secretary of Justice appoint the multidisciplinary Ritual Abuse Workgroup.<ref>Werkgroep Ritueel Misbruik, ''Rapport van de Werkgroep Ritueel Misbruik'', Den Haag, Ministerie van Justitie, Directie Staats- en Strafrecht, April 1994, p. 65-66.</ref>

On 21 April 1994 the Ritual Abuse Workgroup concluded that satanic ritual abuse probably does not take place in the way it is described in the stories and it is unlikely that these stories are wholly true.<ref>Werkgroep Ritueel Misbruik, ''Rapport van de Werkgroep Ritueel Misbruik'', Den Haag, Ministerie van Justitie, Directie Staats- en Strafrecht, April 1994, p. 53-54.</ref> The workgroup suggest that the stories could be a replacement for other traumatic occasions. The victim would use the story then as a defence mechanism to process other, less extreme traumatic experiences. According to the Ritual Abuse Workgroup it is also possible that some patients through suggestive questions of their mpd therapist wrongly got the idea that they were a victim of satanic ritual abuse. Finally, the workgroup thinks it is possible that these stories are contemporary legends, which disperse as an epidemic through a network of mpd therapists and victims.<ref>Werkgroep Ritueel Misbruik, ''Rapport van de Werkgroep Ritueel Misbruik'', Den Haag, Ministerie van Justitie, Directie Staats- en Strafrecht, April 1994, p. 32-36.</ref>

The publication of the report of the Ritual Abuse Workgroup caused a short discussion in the media and in scientific literature. In this discussion, critics and sceptics had a dominant role. Only in a few scientific magazines mpd therapists gave their opinion on multiple personality disorder and satanic ritual abuse. Thanks to the scant role of the mpd movement in the Netherlands and the strong counter movement of critics and sceptics, satanic ritual abuse has never been seen by the authorities, the media, legal practice and the public as a big social problem. Because of that relatively few books and articles on the phenomenon of satanic ritual abuse have been published in the Netherlands. So far ''Hervonden herinneringen en andere misverstanden'' by Hans Crombag and Harald Merckelbach, which contains a chapter on satanic ritual abuse, has been the most influential book on the subject.<ref>Crombag, Hans F.M. and Harald L.G.J. Merckelbach, ''Hervonden herinneringen en andere misverstanden'', Amsterdam/Antwerpen, Contact, 1996, p. 153-194.</ref>

According to the criminologist Tjalling Beetstra, SRA has attracted less public debate in the Netherlands than in the United States because of differences in the two countries' social, religious and political structures.<ref>[http://www.tjallingbeetstra.eu/English/index.htm www.tjallingbeetstra.eu]</ref>

===South Africa===
Ritualistic child sexual abuse has been a feature of numerous sexual assault and homicide cases in South Africa over the last twenty years, in both 'satanic' and traditional tribal contexts. 

In 1990, the prime suspects in the disappearances of several young girls, Gert van Rooyen and his partner, Joey Haarhoff, committed suicide whilst on the run from police. Van Rooyen's son Flippie, arrested a year later for the mutilation and murder of a Zimbabewean teenager, claimed that his father had abducted several young girls, sexually abused them in Satanic rituals, murdered those who weren't obedient and sold the others into sexual slavery overseas <ref>[http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20070408083928578C563530 IOL], "The sins of the father: a dark legacy", August 08 2007, retrieved on October 16 2007</ref>. His bizarre claims were lent some credibility when animal bones were found buried at van Rooyen's house in accordance with Flippie's claims of animal sacrifice <ref>"Police take down paedophile's "house of horrors" brick by brick", 13 May 1996, Agence France-Presse</ref> and the recent discovery of human remains in a location where Flippie had claimed his father had buried two of the abducted children <ref> Clark, L. "van Rooyen spotlight on 'confession", [http://www.capeargus.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3770776 Cape Argus], April 8 2007, retrieved on October 16 2007</ref>. The similarities between the van Rooyen case and the [[Marc Dutroux]] scandal in Belgium sparked speculation from the South African police, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, and the European Union regarding links to an international smuggling ring in prostituted children and body parts <ref>South African police probe possible body-part smuggling ring, Agence France-Presse, 21 August 1996</ref>. 

In [[2003]], Robin Classen was found guilty of sexually assaulting and torturing three children in the context of satanic rituals. The children disclosed being abducted by Classen, sometimes drugged, tortured, indecently assaulted, forced to eat insects and drink Classen's blood and animal blood <ref>see Man accused of torturing children appears in court, 31 July 2002, SAPA (South African Press Association, and Children identified alleged satanist abductor, 27 September 2002, SAPA (South African Press Association)</ref>. 
 
In August [[2007]], Theunis Olivier was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of six-year-old Steven Siebert.<ref>[http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_Top%20Stories&set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20070808114113696C805634 IOL], "Theunis Oliver sentenced", August 08 2007, retrieved on 16 October 2007</ref>. He had previously served a jail term in [[Zimbabwe]] for indecent assault and rape before entering [[South Africa]], where he kidnapped, raped and murdered Steven Siebert in 2005. In his testimony, Olivier claimed to have been abused in a Satanic cult from a young age <ref> Hawker, D. "Theo made me do it, says Olivier", [http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20070802122600788C978119 IOL], August 2 2007, retrieved on October 16 2007</ref>, that he suffered from [[Multiple Personality Disorder]] and that the murder had been undertaken by one of his personalities, Theo. <ref> [http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20070804092724916C733893 IOL], "Olivier no stranger to jail, August 4 2007, retrieved on 16 October 2007</ref>.

===United Kingdom===

There have been a number of cases in the [[United Kingdom]] in which SRA has been alleged. Some of these cases have garnered significant media attention, and they are listed below.

The [[National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children]] affirmed the reality of ritual abuse in 1990, with the publication of survey findings that, of 66 child protection teams in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 14 teams had received reports of ritual abuse from children and seven of them were working directly with children who had been ritually abused, sometimes in groups of 20. <ref>Libby Jukes adn Richard Duce, NSPCC says ritual child abuse is rife, The Times, 13 March 1990</ref> 

====Rochdale====
In 1990 there was a case in [[Rochdale]] which around twenty children were removed from their homes by social services who alleged the existence of SRA after discovering 'satanic indictators'.  No evidence was found of satanic apparatus' and charges were dismissed when a court ruled the allegations were untrue.  The children were removed from their homes sued the city council in 2006 for compensation and an apology.<ref>{{cite news |first= Paul |last=Lewis |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= 'Satanic abuse' case families sue council for negligence |url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1684205,00.html |publisher=[[The Guardian]] |date=2006-01-12 |accessdate = 2007-10-23 }}</ref>

====Orkney====
In 1990-1991 several children were taken in dawn raids from their homes in [[South Ronaldsay]], [[Orkney]] and placed into the care of the local authority. 

It was alleged that the children, aged between eight and 15 at the time, had been the victims of ritual abuse. A [[Sheriff Principal|sheriff]] ruled later that the evidence was seriously flawed and the children were returned home. 

The case resulted in a judicial inquiry that criticised social workers, police and child care agencies. A further report in October 1992 produced almost 200 recommendations for changes in child care practices. 

The sheriff who threw out the original case, said the children had been subjected to cross-examinations designed to make them admit to being abused. 

In 1994, a government report based on three years of research said there was no foundation to the plethora of satanic child abuse claims. 

In 2006 one of the children removed from her home, by that time a young woman of 24, announced that she intended to sue the Orkney Islands Council for damages. She stated that her removal from home and placement into care had destroyed her childhood. 

The director of social work with the council, said: "There have been a huge amount of changes in social work since the Orkney inquiry. ...The Orkney inquiry was an agent for change. It has helped to move practices on."<ref>"Orkney abuse scandal victim to sue for lost youth", The Scotsman, 11 September 2006 
[http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=860&id=1338842006]</ref>

====Broxtowe====
In Nottingham, a [[Broxtowe]] family was charged with multigenerational child sexual abuse and neglect.  A 600-page report on the incident concluded that there was no evidence of the claims made by children or corroborating adults.  Though the children may have been 'sadistically terrorized', allegations of organized satanic abuse were found to be baseless and the indicators used by the Social Services department were without validity. <ref>{{citation | last = Thorpe | first = W. | coauthors = Gwatkin, J.B., Glenn, W.P. & Gregory, M.F. | date=  1990-06-07 | title = Revised Joint Enquiry Report | url = http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~dlheb/jetrepor.htm | accessdate = 2007-10-23 | publisher = Nottinghamshire Social Services }}</ref>

====Lewis====
In [[2003]] allegations by three children in [[Lewis]], [[Scotland]] resulted in the arrest of eight people for sexual abuse occurring between 1990 and 2000.  A 2005 investigation by the Social Work Inspection Agency found extensive evidence of sexual, physical and emotional abuse and neglect.<ref name = Crawford>{{cite news | first = Alan | last = Crawford | title = Three children on the Isle of Lewis were sexually abused for years | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20051009/ai_n15669354 | publisher=[[The Sunday Herald]] |date= 2005-10-09 | accessdate = 2007-11-13 }}</ref>  Police investigation resulted in allegations of an island-wide "Satanic paedophile ring",<ref name = Crawford/><ref name = Martin>{{cite news |first= Lorna |last= Martin |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Satanic abuse key witness says: I lied | url = http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1879884,00.html | publisher=[[The Guardian]] |date= |accessdate = 2007-08-21 }}</ref> though charges were dropped nine months later following an inconclusive investigation.<ref name = Martin/><ref name = Crawford/>

A key witness who had implicated her family in the abuse and whose evidence was "vital" to the case of satanic abuse recanted her testimony in 2006<ref name = Martin/><ref name = Howie>{{cite news |first= Howie |last= Michael | title = Police deny putting pressure on 'satanic abuse' witness | url = http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1413662006 | publisher = [[The Scotsman]] |date= 2006-09-25 | accessdate = 2007-11-13 }}</ref> and the media raised questions about the nature of the police interviewing techniques.<ref name = Martin/><ref name = Howie/> with a police spokesperson replying that the witness was questioned appropriately and that allegations were made by numerous witnesses.<ref name = Howie/>

===United States===
{{main|Kern County child abuse cases}}
{{main|McMartin preschool trial}}
{{main|West Memphis 3}}
In the [[United States]], major allegations of Satanic ritual abuse occurred in the [[Kern County child abuse cases]], [[McMartin preschool trial]] and the [[West Memphis 3]], which garnered world-wide media coverage.  Other high-profile court cases involving allegations of SRA dominated coverage on child abuse throughout the 1980s to 1990s.<!-- <ref>{{cite news | title = Convict's wife sentenced for trying to molest kids | publisher = Orlando Sentinel Tribune | date = 1992-05-09}}; {{cite news | title = A family fears that satanic cult will try to silence their sons | publisher = Orlando Sentinel Tribune | date = 1991-08-10}}; {{cite news | title = Child abuse suspect trades testimony for lesser charges | publisher = Orlando Sentinel Tribune | 1992-01-31 }}</ref> DOES ARTICLE SPECIFY SATANIC ABUSE?  TITLE DOES NOT MAKE THIS CLEAR, IS THERE A FULL TEXT AVAILABLE?  ALSO, THIS PAPER DOES NOT APPEAR TO EXIST; FURTHER, THE ENTRY SEEMS TAKEN FROM THE NEWSMAKINGNEWS.COM SITE--><ref>{{cite news | title = Speaking the unspeakable:  Nightmares of Fran's day care stalk families | publisher = Austin American-Statesman | last = Ward | first = Pamela | 1992-12-13 | pages = A1 }}; {{cite news | last = Gamino | first = Denise | title = 6-year old testifies he witnessed abuse of girl:  Jury may begin deliberating molestation case today  | publisher = Austin American-Statesman | date=  1992-11-24 | pages = A1}}; {{cite news | last = Phillips | first = Jim | date=  1992-11-26 | publisher = Austin American-Statesman | title = Kellers found guilty of sexual assault | pages = A1 }}; {{cite news | title = Therapist describes ritualistic abuse claims:  Defense begins its case in day care molestation trial | publisher = Austin American-Statesman | date=  1992-11-20 |last = Gamino | first = Denise | pages = A1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = Man could get 162 years in molestations | publisher = The Arizona Republic | date=  1994-09-10}}; {{cite news | title = Ex-pastor sentenced on child-sex charges | publisher = The Arizona Republic | date=  1994-11-19 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = Pa. couple is charged with torturing children: Police say neighbors also took part in abuse | publisher = The Atlanta Journal and Constitution | date=  1991-11-26  }}; {{cite news | title = Pennsylvania couple charged with brutalizing their children | publisher = The Washington Post | date=  1991-11-26 }}; {{cite news | title = Parents charged with torturing their children | publisher = Associated Press | date=  1991-11-25 }}</ref><!-- : Judge unmoved by health woes,” Tribune-Democrat, [[December 9]] [[2006]] http://www.tribune-democrat.com/archivesearch/local_story_343000649.html; "Child Abuser Seeks Prison Release,” Tribune-Democrat, [[September 30]] [[2006]] http://www.tribune-democrat.com/archivesearch/local_story_273002109.html;  THESE ARTICLE DO NOT MENTION SATANIC RITUAL ABUSE; CLOSEST IS 'CULTISH BLOODLETTINGS; IN SECOND ARTICLE - REQUIRES A BETTER SOURCE-->

====Jordan, Minnesota====
The first such case occurred in [[Jordan, Minnesota]], in [[1983]], where several children made allegations against an unrelated man and their parents. The man confessed and then identified a number of the children’s parents as perpetrators. Ultimately twenty four adults were charged with child abuse though only three went to trial with two [[acquittal]]s and one [[conviction]].<ref name = Scalia>{{cite web | url = http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/89-478.ZD.html | title = Supreme Court Collection at Cornell University Law School | last = Scalia | first = Antonin | authorlink = Antonin Scalia | coauthors = [[William J. Brennan, Jr.|Brennan, William]], [[Thurgood Marshall|Marshall, Thurgood]] & [[John Paul Stevens|Stevens, John Paul]] | accessdate = 2007-10-23 | date=  1990-06-27 | format = html | language = english }}</ref> During the investigation, the children made [[allegation]]s of manufacturing [[child pornography]], ritualistic animal sacrifice, [[Coprophagia#Humans|coprophagia]], [[urophagia]] and [[infanticide]], at which point the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] was alerted.<ref>{{cite book |author=Hechler, David |title=The battle and the backlash: the child sexual abuse war |publisher=Lexington Books |location=Lexington, Mass |year=1988 |pages= |isbn=066914097X |oclc= |doi=}}</ref>  No criminal charges resulted from the FBI investigation, and in his review of the case, the [[Attorney General]] noted that the initial investigation by the local police and county attorney was so poor that it had destroyed the opportunity to fully investigate the children’s allegations.<ref>{{citation | last = Humphrey | first = Herbert | year = 1985 | title = Report on Scott County investigations | location = Minneapolis, MN | publisher = Minnesota Attorney General's Office }}</ref>  [[Antonin Scalia|Supreme Court Justice Scalia]] referred to the Minnesota case in his summation on a later case, and stated, "[t]here is no doubt that some sexual abuse took place in Jordan; but there is no reason to believe it was as widespread as charged," and cited the repeated, well-intentioned but coercive techniques used by the investigators as damaging to the investigation.<ref name = Scalia/><!-- A commission later reviewed the conduct of the county Attorney in dismissing charges against the remaining defendants and noted that it was likely that other charges could have been successfully prosecuted.<ref>Commission Established by Executive Order No. 85-10 1985</ref>. THIS REQUIRES A BETTER REFERENCE, NO-ONE COULD FIND THIS DOCUMENT BASED ON THESE DETAILS-->  The bizarre allegations of the children, the ambiguities of the investigation and the unsuccessful prosecutions were widely covered by the media.  A number of accused parents confessed to sexually abusing their children, received immunity, and underwent treatment for sexual abuse, whilst parental rights for six other children in the case were terminated.<ref name=Faller2004>{{cite journal | author = Faller, K.C. | year = 2004 | title = Sexual Abuse of Children: Contested Issues and Competing Interests | journal = Criminal Justice Review | volume = 29 | issue = 2 | pages = 358 | url = http://cjr.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/29/2/358  | accessdate = 2007-10-23}}</ref> 
<!-- In 1992 [[Florida]] couple were charged with the sexual, physical, and mental abuse against their three children. According to Ohio vs. Estella Sexton, [[February 13]] [[1995]], 1995 Ohio App. Lexis 1413, one of the children stated that family members were involved in satanic rituals, invoking spirits. This testimony regarding Satanic ritual was found by the court to be relevant to the proceedings. The court documented other ritualistic activity by the offenders, including an instance in which one of the children was cut, and forced to sign a contract to the devil.<ref>[[March 9]] [[1998]], STATE OF OHIO vs ESTELLA SEXTON, COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO, FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT, STARK COUNTY, 1998 Ohio App. LEXIS 1302; 1995 Ohio App. LEXIS 1413, Convictions for Complicity to Rape, Felonious Sexual Penetration, Gross Sexual Imposition, Complicity to Gross Sexual Imposition, and Child Endangerment Affirmed</ref>. The father, Eddie Sexton, was later convicted of participation in the murder of his son-in-law, Joel Good, and sentenced to death. Good was murdered by Sexton’s 22 year old son, Willie, who strangled him to death under Sexton’s direction. The States proposed motive for the killing was that Sexton's son-in-law knew Sexton was the father of his own "grandchildren." Willie Sexton testified against his father in exchange for his guilty plea to second-degree murder. News reports state that during the second trial, his son, Willie Sexton, said his father convinced him he had Satanic powers and sexually abused him. <ref>see “Children Tell of Life of Incest, Violence,” Beacon Journal , [[February 6]] [[1994]]; "Court Revisits Murder Case, Son's Fears," St. Petersburg Times, [[September 2]] [[1998]], [[October 12]] [[2000]], EDDIE LEE SEXTON vs. STATE OF FLORIDA, SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA, 775 So. 2d. 923, 2000 Fla. LEXIS 1993; 697 So. 2d. 833 (1997) Conviction and Death Sentence Affirmed</ref> THIS WHOLE SECTION IS SOMEWHAT SUSPECT - THE SATANIC ABUSE ISN'T DOCUMENTED BY SOURCES I'VE SEEN, AND THE WHOLE 'KILLED HIS OWN SON/GRANDSON THING SEEMS IRRELEVANT.  

The remains of a small infant girl, first dubbed Baby X and later 'Kristina Angelica James,' were discovered near [[Rupert, Idaho|Rupert]], [[Idaho]] in the early 1990s, and the body was considered evidence of SRA activity, though no unambiguous evidence linking the girl's death to SRA was ever found.<ref>{{ cite web | url = http://www.maryellenmark.com/text/magazines/la_times/216O.html | last = Siegel | first = Barry | year = 1992 | title = Idaho Gothic | publisher = [[Los Angeles Times Magazine]] | accessdate = 2007-08-16}}</ref> SUPER DUBIOUS - PAGE SHOULD INCLUDE UNEQUIVOCAL CASES ONLY-->

==See also==
* [[Blood libel]]
* [[Mike Warnke]]
* [[Phantom Social Workers]]
* [[Recovered memory therapy]]
* [[Satanic ritual abuse and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]]
* [[File 18]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.religioustolerance.org/ra_rep03.htm Kenneth V. Lanning: Investigator's Guide to Allegations of Ritual Child Abuse] (1992 FBI report)

[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]
[[Category:Mind control]]
[[Category:Anti-cult terms and concepts]]
[[Category:Religious persecution]]
[[Category:Satanism]]
[[Category:Crimes involving Satanism or the occult]]
[[Category:Hoaxes]]
[[Category:Mass hysteria]]

[[cs:Satanistické rituální zneužívání]][[Image:Martin van Maele - La Sorcière 06.jpg| [[Engraving]] for [[Jules Michelet]]'s [[Satanism and Witchcraft|''La sorcière'']], depicting a sensationalistic ritual modelled on the [[Catholic liturgy]]|thumb|150px]]
'''Satanic ritual abuse''' ('''SRA''', sometimes known as '''ritual abuse''', '''ritualistic abuse''', '''organised abuse''', '''sadistic abuse''' or '''ritual abuse-torture'''<ref>
{{cite book |last=Sarson |first=J. |coauthors=McDonald L. |year=2007 | title =Encyclopedia of Domestic Violence |editor = Jackson, N. (ed) | publisher =Routledge |pages = [http://books.google.ca/books?id=OcDBZ0uNNVIC&pg=PA605 605] | isbn =978-0-415-96968-0 }}; {{cite journal |last=Sarson |first=J. |coauthors=MacDonald L. |year=2008 |title=Ritual Abuse Torture Within Families/Groups |journal=Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=419–438 | url = https://www.haworthpress.com/store/ArticleAbstract.asp?sid=GKL6RNSLURXB9PFCP3HCAPM5XE9N2W9D&ID=110371}}</ref> and other variants) refers to a [[moral panic]] that originated in the [[United States]] in the 1980s, spreading throughout the country and eventually to many parts of the world, before subsiding in the late 1990s.  Allegations of SRA involved reports of [[Physical abuse|physical]] and [[sexual abuse]] of individuals in the context of [[occult]] or [[Theistic Satanism#Preconceptions and myths|satanic]] [[ritual]]s.   At its most extreme definition, SRA involved a world-wide [[Conspiracy theory|conspiracy]] involving the wealthy and powerful of the world elite in which children were abducted or bred for sacrifices, pornography and prostitution.

Nearly every aspect of SRA was [[Controversy|controversial]], including its definition, the source of the allegations, proof, testimonials of alleged victims, court cases involving the allegations and criminal investigations.  The panic impacted how legal, therapeutic and social work professions dealt with allegations of child sexual abuse.  Allegations initially brought together widely dissimilar groups, including religious fundamentalists, police investigators, child advocates, therapists and clients in psychotherapy.  The movement gradually secularized, dropping or deprecating the "satanic" aspects of the allegations in favor of names that were less overtly religious such as "sadistic" or simply "ritual abuse" and becoming more associated with [[dissociative identity disorder]] and government conspiracy theories.

The panic was based on reports from children and adults using therapeutic and questioning techniques now considered illegitimate, with initial publicity generated by the discredited autobiography ''[[Michelle Remembers]]'', and sustained and popularized by interest in the [[McMartin preschool trial]].  Testimonials, symptom lists, rumors and techniques to investigate or uncover memories of SRA were disseminated through professional, popular and religious conferences, as well as through the attention of sensationalist [[talk show]]s, sustaining and spreading the moral panic further throughout the United States and beyond.  In some cases allegations resulted in criminal trials with varying results; after seven years in court, the iconic McMartin trial resulted in no charges for all accused, while other cases resulted in lengthy sentences.  Scholarly interest in the topic slowly built, eventually resulting in the conclusion that the phenomenon was a moral panic.  Official investigations produced no evidence of conspiracies or the slaughter of thousands of babies and children in bloody sacrifices.  In the latter half of the 1990s interest in SRA declined and [[skepticism]] became the default position, with only a minority of believers giving any credence to the existence of SRA.

==History==
===Historical precedents===
[[Image:Schedel'sche Weltchronik-Sacrifice-of-a-child CCLIII.jpg|[[blood libel against Jews|Blood libel]] accusations against [[Jew]]s are considered historical precursors to the modern moral panic.|thumb|150px]]
{{main|blood libel|moral panic|child cannibalism}}
The SRA panic repeated many of the features of historical moral panics and conspiracy theories<ref name = Goode>{{cite book |author=Goode, Erich; Ben-Yahuda, Nachman |title=Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Cambridge, MA | year=1994 |pages= [http://books.google.com/books?id=FXfwVySVB4wC&pg=PA57 57] |isbn=063118905X |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}</ref> such as the [[blood libel against Jews]] by [[Apion]] in the 30s AD,<ref name = N&S31>[[#Nathan1995|Nathan & Snedeker]], 1995, p. 31.</ref> [[Persecution of early Christians in the Roman Empire|Christians in the Roman empire]], later allegations of a [[Jewish conspiracy]] alleging the [[Child cannibalism|killing of Christian babies]] and desecration of the [[Eucharist]], the [[witch trials in Early Modern Europe|witch hunt]]s of the 16th and 17th centuries.<ref name = Victor207>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA207 207-208].</ref>  A more immediate precedent to the context of the United States was the 1950s [[McCarthyism]].<ref name = Frankfurter2>[[#Frankfurter2006|Frankfurter]], 2006, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&pg=PA2 2].</ref><ref name=Frankfurter2001>{{cite journal | author = Frankfurter, D. | year = 2001 | title = Ritual as Accusation and Atrocity: Satanic Ritual Abuse, Gnostic Libertinism, and Primal Murders | journal = History of Religions | volume = 40 | issue = 4 | pages = 352–380 | url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0018-2710(200105)40%3A4%3C352%3ARAAAAS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0  | accessdate = 2007-11-20 | doi = 10.1086/463648}}</ref><ref name = Victor207/><ref>{{cite journal |last= Kent |first= Stephen |year= 1993 |title= Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse Part One: Possible Judeo-Christian Influences |journal= Religion |issue= 23 |pages= 229–241 |doi= 10.1006/reli.1993.1021 |volume= 23}}</ref>  Allegations of horrific acts by outsider groups, literally the worst imaginable including cannibalism, child murder, torture and incestuous orgies, may have served as a form of [[Other]]ing for minority groups, as well [[scapegoat]]ing to provide simple explanations to complex problems in times of social disruption.<ref name = Goode/><ref name = N&S31/>  Torture and imprisonment were used by authority figures to coerce confessions from alleged satanists, confessions that were later used to justify their execution.<ref name = N&S31/>  Records of these older allegations were linked by contemporary proponents in an effort to demonstrate the contemporary satanic cults were part of an ancient conspiracy of evil.<ref>[[#Frankfurter2006|Frankfurter]], 2006, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&pg=PA118 118].</ref>

===''Michelle Remembers'' and the McMartin preschool trial===
[[Image:Michelle Remembers.jpg|Cover for ''[[Michelle Remembers]]'', the discredited autobiography believed by many researchers to be responsible for the initial interest in satanic ritual abuse|thumb|150px]]
{{main|Michelle Remembers|McMartin preschool trial}}
In 1980 the book, ''[[Michelle Remembers]]'', written by Michelle Smith and husband/psychiatrist [[Lawrence Pazder]], was published.  The book, now [[Michelle Remembers#Criticism and debunking|discredited]], was written as an [[autobiography]] and was the first known claim linking the abuse of children with satanic rituals.<ref name = Victor14>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA14 14-5].</ref> It provided a model for allegations of SRA that followed.<ref name = Victor14/><ref name = Spanos>{{cite book |author=Spanos NP | authorlink = Nicholas Spanos |title=Multiple Identities & False Memories: A Sociocognitive Perspective |publisher=[[American Psychological Association]] |location= |year=1996 |pages=269–285 |isbn=1-55798-340-2 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}</ref>  ''Michelle Remembers'', along with others portrayed as survivor stories, are suspected to have influenced later allegations of SRA<ref name = Brown55>[[#Brown1998|Hammond, Brown & Scheflin]], 1998, p. 55.</ref><ref name = Victor14/> and some have argued the book was a causal factor in the later epidemic of SRA allegations.<ref name = Frankfurter6062>[[#Frankfurter2006|Frankfurter]], 2006, p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&pg=PA60 60-62].</ref><ref name="wenegrat1">{{cite book| title = Theater of Disorder: Patients, Doctors, and the Construction of Illness| last = Wenegrat| first = Brant| publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]| year = 2001 | pages = [http://books.google.com/books?id=o5i5utgOjvgC&pg=PA190 190-2]}}</ref><ref name="Charles">{{cite book| chapter = The Assessment and Investigation of Ritual Abuse| last = Ney| first = Tara| title = True and False Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse: Assessment and Case Management| publisher = Psychology Press | year = 1995| url = | pages = [http://books.google.com/books?id=BggJjhbBJzwC&pg=PA304 304]}}</ref> In the early 1980s, during the implementation of [[mandatory reporting]] laws there was an exponential increase in child protection investigations in [[United States|America]], [[United Kingdom|Britain]] and other developed countries and an increased public awareness of [[child abuse]].  The investigation of incest allegations in California was also changed, with cases led by [[social work]]ers using leading and coercive interviewing techniques avoided by police investigators, and alterations to the prosecution of these cases that resulted in a greater number of confessions in exchange for [[plea bargain]]s from fathers.<ref>[[#Nathan1995|Nathan & Snedecker]], 1995, p. 24.</ref>  Shortly thereafter some children in child protection cases began making allegations of horrific physical and sexual abuse by caregivers within organized rituals, disclosing sexual abuse in satanic rituals and the use of satanic iconography, garnering the label "satanic ritual abuse" in the media and among professionals.<ref name=Hechler>{{cite book |author=Hechler D|title=The Battle and the Backlash: The Child Sexual Abuse War |publisher=Macmillan Pub Co |location= |year= |pages= |isbn=0-669-21362-4 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref><ref name=Cozolino1989>{{cite journal | author = Cozolino, L. | year = 1989 | title = The ritual abuse of children: Implications for clinical practice and research | journal = The Journal of Sex Research | volume = 26 | issue = 1 | pages = 131–138}}</ref>  Childhood memories of similar abuse began to appear in the [[psychotherapy]] sessions of adults.<ref name=Van1990>{{cite journal | author = Van Benschoten, S.C. | year = 1990 | title = Multiple personality disorder and satanic ritual abuse: The issue of credibility | journal = Dissociation | volume = 1 | issue = 3 | pages = 13–20 | url = https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/bitstream/1794/1492/1/Diss_3_1_5_OCR.pdf | accessdate = 2008-06-11|format=PDF}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Conte JR |title= Critical issues in child sexual abuse: historical, legal, and psychological perspectives |publisher=Sage Publications |location=Thousand Oaks |year=2002 |pages= [http://books.google.com/books?id=qBSuIMgJLNYC&pg=PA178 178-9] |isbn=0761909125 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref>   

In 1983 charges were laid in the [[McMartin preschool trial]], a major case in [[California]], which received attention throughout the United States, and contained allegations of satanic ritual abuse.  The case caused tremendous polarization in how to interpret the evidence that was available<ref>[[#Brown1998|Brown, Scheflin & Hammond]], 1998, p. 58.</ref> and shortly after more than a hundred preschools across the country had similar sensationalist allegations eagerly and uncritically reported by the press.<ref>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA117 117].</ref>  Throughout the trial the media coverage against the defendants (Peggy McMartin and Ray Buckey) was unrelentingly negative, focusing only on statements by the prosecution and continuing throughout the trial.<ref name = Abuseofinnocence>[[#Eberle1993|Eberle & Eberle]], 1993.</ref>  Smith and other alleged survivors met with parents involved in the trial and it is believed that they influenced testimony against the accused.<ref>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA15 15].</ref><ref name = Bibby205/><ref>[[#LaFontaine1998|LaFontaine]], 1998, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA56 56]</ref><ref>[[#Nathan1995|Nathan & Snedeker]], 1995, p. 89.</ref>

Kee MacFarlane, a social worker employed by the [[Children's Institute International]], developed a new way to interrogate children with [[anatomically correct doll]]s and tested their use in assisting disclosures of abuse with the McMartin children. With the dolls and leading questions she diagnosed sexual abuse in virtually all McMartin children,<ref>[[#Nathan1995|Nathan & Snedeker]], 1995, p. 79-80.</ref> and coerced disclosures using lengthy interviews which rewarded discussions of abuse and punished denials; testimony during the trial was often contradictory and vague on all details except for the assertion that the abuse had occurred.<ref name = Abuseofinnocence/>  Though the initial charges featured bizarre allegations of satanic abuse, these features were dropped relatively early in the trial and prosecution continued only for non-ritual allegations of child abuse.<ref name = Intimate>{{cite book |author=Jenkins P |title=Intimate enemies: moral panics in contemporary Great Britain |publisher=[[Transaction Publishers|Aldine de Gruyter]] |location=New York |year=1992 |url = |pages= [http://books.google.com/books?id=JQQWfqtES5MC&pg=PA151 151–76] |isbn=0-202-30435-3 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}</ref>  After three years of testimony, McMartin and Buckey were acquitted on 52 of 65 counts, and the jury was deadlocked on the remaining 13 charges against Buckey with eleven of thirteen jurors choosing not guilty. Buckey was re-charged and two years later released without conviction.<ref name = Abuseofinnocence/>

===Conspiracy accusations===
In 1984 MacFarlane warned a congressional committee of [[scatological]] behavior and animals being slaughtered in bizarre rituals which children were forced to watch.<ref>{{citation | last = Mac Farlane | first = K | title = Child Abuse and Day Care: Joint hearing before the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee of Ways and Means, and Select committee on Children, Youth, and Families" (testimony by Kee MacFarlane) | date = 1984-09-17 | pages = 45–46}}</ref> 
Shortly after the [[United States Congress]] doubled its budget for child-protection programs.  Psychiatrist Roland Summit delivered conferences in the wake of the McMartin trial and depicted the phenomenon as a [[conspiracy theory]], suggesting that people skeptical of SRA were part of the conspiracy.<ref name = N&S1023>[[#Nathan1995|Nathan & Snedeker]], 1995, p. 102-3.</ref> By 1986 Carol Darling, a social worker, argued in a [[grand jury]] that the conspiracy reached the government.<ref name = N&S1023/> Brad Darling, her husband, gave conferences about a satanic conspiracy of great antiquity, now permeating American communities.<ref name=Frankfurter6062/>  By the late 1980s therapists or patients who believed someone had suffered from SRA could suggest solutions that included Christian psychotherapy, [[exorcism]] and [[support group]]s whose members self-identified as "anti-Satanic warriors."<ref>[[#Frankfurter2006|Frankfurter]], 2006, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&pg=PA69 69].</ref>  Federal funding was increased for research on child abuse, with large portions of the funding going towards child sexual abuse.  Funding was also provided for conferences supporting the idea of SRA, adding a veneer of respectability to the idea as well as offering an opportunity for prosecutors to exchange advice on how to best secure convictions (with tactics including the destruction of notes, refusing to tape interviews with children and destroying or refusing to share evidence with the defense).<ref>[[#Nathan1995|Nathan& Snedeker]], 1995.</ref>  Had proof been found, SRA would have represented the first occasion where an organized and secret criminal activity had been discovered by mental health professionals.<ref>{{cite book | isbn = 1557985219 | editors = DeRivera J& Sarbin T (eds.)| title = Believed-In-Imaginings: The Narrative Construction of Reality | publisher = [[American Psychological Association]] |year = 1998|location = Washington, D.C.| pages= 203 | chapter = Construction of Satanic Ritual Abuse and the Creation of False Memories | last = Victor | first = J}}</ref>  In 1987, [[Geraldo Rivera]] produced a national television special on the alleged secret cults, claiming "Estimates are that there are over one million Satanists in [the United States and they are] linked in a highly organized, secretive network."<ref>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA32 32-33].</ref>  Tapings of this and similar talk show episodes were subsequently used by [[Fundamentalism|religious fundamentalists]], [[Psychotherapy|psychotherapists]], [[social work]]ers and police to promote the idea that a conspiracy of satanic cults existed and was actually involved in serious crimes.<ref>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, pp. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA45 45], [http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA69 69], [http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA166 166], [http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA254 254] & [http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA343 343].</ref>

===Religious roots and secularization===
Initial accusations were made in the context of [[conservative Christianity]] and religious fundamentalists were enthusiastic in promoting rumors of SRA.<ref name = Intimate/>  Psychotherapists who were actively Christian began advocating for the diagnosis of [[dissociative identity disorder]] (DID) and soon after accounts similar to ''Michelle Remembers'' began to appear, with some therapists believing the alters of some patients were the result of [[demonic possession]].<ref name = Spanos/>  Protestantism was instrumental in starting, spreading and maintaining rumours through sermons about the dangers of SRA, lectures by purported experts and prayer sessions, including showings of the 1987 Geraldo Rivera television special.<ref>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA46 46-7] & [http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA68 68-70].</ref>  Secular proponents began to appear,<ref name = LafontaineUS>[[#LaFontaine1998|La Fontaine]], 1998, p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA2 2], [http://books.google.ca/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA12 12], [http://books.google.ca/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA18 18] & [http://books.google.ca/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA19 19].</ref> and child protection workers became significantly involved.  As the explanations for SRA were distanced from [[Evangelicalism|evangelical]] Christianity and into the realm of "survivor" groups, the motivations ascribed to purported satanists shifted from combating a religious nemesis to mind control and abuse as an end to itself.<ref name = Frankfurter2003>{{cite journal | last = Frakfurter | first = D | year = 2003 | volume = 50 | journal = Numen | title = The satanic ritual abuse panic as religious-studies data | pages = 108–117 | doi = 10.1163/156852703321103265 }}</ref>  Clinicians, psychotherapists and social workers documented clients alleging histories of SRA<ref name = VS>{{cite book |last = Sinason | first = V |title=Treating survivors of satanist abuse |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=New York |year=1994 |pages= |isbn=0-415-10543-9 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref><ref name=Jonker1991>{{cite journal | author = Jonker F | coauthors = Jonker-Bakker P | year = 1991 | title = Experiences with ritualist child sexual abuse: a case study from the Netherlands | journal = Child Abuse and Neglect | volume = 15 | pages = 191–196 | url = http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ429991  | accessdate = 2007-10-20 | pmid =2043971  | doi = 10.1016/0145-2134(91)90064-K}}</ref> though the claims of therapists were unsubstantiated beyond the testimonies of their clients.<ref name = Lanning/><ref>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA86 86-87].</ref><ref>[[#Frankfurter2006|Frankfurter]], 2006, p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&pg=PA192 192-195].</ref>

===International spread===
In 1987 a list of 'indicators' was published by Catherine Gould,<ref>{{cite journal | last = Gould | first = C | title = Satanic ritual abuse: child victims, adult survivors, system response | journal = California Psychologist | year = 1987 | volume = 22 | issue = 3 | pages = 9–14}}</ref> featuring a broad array of vague symptoms that were ultimately common, non-specific and subjective, capable of diagnosing SRA in most young children.<ref name = Intimate/>  By the late 1980s allegations began to appear throughout the world (including Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Scandinavia), in part enabled by English as a common international language and in at least the United Kingdom assisted by Gould's list of indicators:  
* In 1985 charges were laid in a [[Hamilton, Ontario]] case.
* In 1986, the largest symposia on child abuse in history was held in Australia, with vocal SRA advocates Kee MacFarlane, Roland Summit, [[Astrid Hager]] and David Finkelhor invited to give addresses.<ref>{{cite book| last= Guillatt | first = R.| authorlink = |title = Talk of the Devil: Repressed Memory & the Ritual Abuse Witch-Hunt | publisher = The Text Publishing Company | year = 1996 | location = Melburne | pages = 31 | url = | isbn = 1875847294 }}</ref>  
* In 1987 writings on the phenomenon appeared in the United Kingdom along with incidents featuring broadly similar accusations such as the [[Cleveland child abuse scandal]]; [[List of satanic ritual abuse allegations#Broxtowe|allegations of SRA in Nottingham]] resulted in the 'British McMartin', advised in part by the British journalist Tim Tate's sensationalist work on the subject.<ref name = Intimate/>  Along with the list of indicators, American conference speakers, pamphlets, source materials, consultants, vocabulary regarding SRA and allegedly funding were imported, which promoted in the identification and counseling of British SRA allegations.<ref name = Intimate/><ref name = LafontaineUS/>  The Nottingham investigation resulted in criminal charges of severe child abuse that ultimately had nothing to do with satanic rituals, and was criticized for focusing on the irrelevant and non-existent satanic aspects of the allegations at the expense of the severe conventional abuse endured by the children.<ref>{{citation | last = Thorpe | first = W. | coauthors = Gwatkin, J.B., Glenn, W.P. & Gregory, M.F. | date=  1990-06-07 | title = Revised Joint Enquiry Report | url = http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~dlheb/jetrepor.htm | accessdate = 2007-10-23 | publisher = Nottinghamshire Social Services }}</ref>
* In 1989, San Francisco police detective Sandi Gallant gave an interview with a newspaper in the United Kingdom.<ref>[[#LaFontaine1998|Lafontaine]], 1998, p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA165 165].</ref>  At the same time, several other therapists toured the country giving talks on SRA, and shortly thereafter SRA cases occurred in [[Orkney]], [[Rochdale]], [[London]] and [[Nottingham]].<ref>[[#Nathan1995|Nathan & Snedeker]], 1995, p. 230.</ref>
* In 1992 charges were laid in a [[Martensville, Saskatchewan]] case; charges were overturned in 1995 on the grounds of improper interviewing of the children. 
* A wave of SRA accusations appeared in New Zealand in 1991, and in Norway in 1992.<ref>[[#Nathan1995|Nathan & Snedeker]], 1995, p. 231.</ref>
* In 1998 Jean LaFontaine produced a book indicating allegations of SRA in the United Kingdom were sparked by investigations supervised by social workers who had taken SRA seminars in the United States.

===Skepticism and rejection===
{{Expand-section|date=August 2008}}
Media coverage of SRA began to turn negative by 1987, and the "panic" ended between 1992 and 1995.<ref name = Lewis>{{cite book|editor=Lewis JR |author=Jenkins P |title=The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements|isbn= 0195149866|pages= [http://books.google.com/books?id=wpqKdDvLV0gC&pg=PA221 221–242]|publisher= [[Oxford University Press]]|year=2004 | chapter = Satanism and Ritual Abuse }}</ref><ref name = Clapton1>[[#Clapton1993|Clapton]], 1993, p.1.</ref> By 2003 allegations of ritual abuse were met with great skepticism and belief in SRA is no longer considered mainstream in professional circles.<ref name = Faller>[[#Faller2003|Faller]], 2003, p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=FkT2wTGTUAoC&pg=PA29 29-33].</ref><ref name = Perrin>[[#Perrin2006|Perrin & Miller-Perrin]], 2006, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=AJgxUqce5GcC&pg=PA321 321].</ref>

Some [[Feminism|feminist]] critics of the SRA diagnoses maintained that, in the course of attempting to purge society of evil, the panic of the 1980s and 1990s obscured real child abuse issues, a concern echoed by Gary Clapton.<ref name = Clapton1/> In England the SRA panic diverted resources and attention from proven cases of abuse and resulted in a hierarchy of abuse in which SRA was the most serious form of abuse with physical and sexual abuse being minimized, marginalized and "mere" physical abuse no longer worthy of intervention.<ref>[[#Clapton1993|Clapton]], 1993, p. 14-18.</ref>  In addition, as attention towards SRA turned negative, the focus by social workers on SRA resulted in a large loss of credibility to the profession.<ref>[[#Clapton1993|Clapton]], 1993, p. 23-28.</ref>  SRA, with its sensational makeup of many victims abused by many victimizers, ended up robbing the far more common and proven issue of [[incest]] of much of its larger significance to society.<ref>{{cite book| last= Armstrong|first = L| authorlink = | title = Rocking the Cradle of Sexual Politics| publisher = Addison-Wesley|year = 1994|location = Reading, Mass.|pages = 257–259|url =}}</ref>  The National Center for Abuse and Neglect devised the term [[religious abuse]] to describe [[exorcism]]s, [[poisoning]]s and drownings of children in non-satanic religious settings in order to avoid confusion with SRA.<ref>{{cite book| last= Goodman|first = G | authorlink = | coauthors =Qin J; Bottoms BL & Shaver PR |title = Characteristics and Sources of Allegations of Ritualistic Child Abuse | publisher = Center for Abuse and Neglect |year = 1994|location = Washington, D.C.|pages = 99–114|url =}}</ref><ref>[[#Frankfurter2006|Frankfurter]], 2006, p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&pg=PA 223 223-224].</ref>  A small number of individuals still believe there is credence to allegations of SRA and continue to discuss the topic.<ref name = Perrin/><ref>{{cite journal | last = McLeod | first = K | coauthors = Goddard CR | year =  2005 | title = The ritual abuse of children - A critical perspective | journal = Children Australia | volume = 30 | issue = 1 | pages = 27-34 }}</ref>

==Definitions==
The term "satanic ritual abuse" is used to describe different behaviors, actions and allegations that lie between extremes of definitions.<ref>[[#Edge2001|Edge]], 2001, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=LLOtSiH2E1cC&pg=PA378 378].</ref> In 1988, a nation wide study of sexual abuse in [[United States|U.S.]] [[Day care sex abuse hysteria|day care agencies]], led by David Finkelhor, put forth a three-fold typology to describe "ritual abuse" — cult-based ritualism in which the abuse had a spiritual or social goal for the perpetrators, pseudo-ritualism in which the goal was sexual gratification and the rituals were used to frighten or intimidate victims, and [[Psychopathology|psychopathological]] ritualism in which the rituals were due to [[mental disorder]]s.<ref name = Finkelhor>{{Citation | last = Finkelhor | first = D | coauthors = Williams LM; Burns N; Kalinowski, M | year = 1988 | url = http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED292552 | format = PDF | title = Executive Summary - Sexual Abuse in Day Care: A National Study | publisher = University of New Hampshire, Family Research Laboratory | id = Eric # ED292552 | accessdate = 2008-06-11}}</ref>  Subsequent investigators have expanded on these definitions and also pointed to a fourth alleged type of satanic ritual abuse, in which petty crimes with ambiguous meaning (such as [[graffiti]] or [[vandalism]]) generally committed by teenagers were attributed to the actions of satanic cults.<ref name="pmid1471565">{{cite journal |author=Belitz J, Schacht A |title=Satanism as a response to abuse: the dynamics and treatment of satanic involvement in male youths |journal=Adolescence |volume=27 |issue=108 |pages=855–72 |year=1992 |pmid=1471565 |doi= |url= |accessdate=2008-06-07}}</ref><ref name="pmid8356163">{{cite journal |author=Young WC |title=Sadistic ritual abuse. An overview in detection and management |journal=Prim. Care |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=447–58 |year=1993 |month=June |pmid=8356163 |doi= |url= |accessdate=2008-06-07}}</ref><ref name="pmid1962303">{{cite journal |author=Ahmed MB |title=High-risk adolescents and satanic cults |journal=Tex Med |volume=87 |issue=10 |pages=74–6 |year=1991 |month=October |pmid=1962303 |doi= |url= |accessdate=2008-06-07}}</ref>

By the early 1990s, the phrase "satanic ritual abuse" was featured in media coverage of ritualistic abuse but its use decreased among professionals in favour of more nuanced terms such as multi-dimensional child sex rings,<ref name = Lanning>{{citation | format = PDF  | first = Kenneth V. | last = Lanning | title = Investigator's Guide to Allegations of "Ritual" Childhood Abuse | year = 1992 }}; {{waybackdate  | site = http://www.pointnet.ca/media/igtaorca.pdf | date = 20031025012607}}</ref> ritual/ritualistic abuse,<ref>{{cite book |author=Hudson PS |title=Ritual child abuse: discovery, diagnosis, and treatment |publisher=R&E Publishers |location=Saratoga, Calif |year=1991 |pages= |isbn=0882478672 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref> organised abuse<ref name=Bibby>[[#Bibby1996|Bibby]],  1996.</ref> or sadistic abuse,<ref name = VS/> some of which acknowledged the complexity of abuse cases with multiple perpetrators and victims without projecting a religious framework onto perpetrators.  The latter in particular failed to substantively improve on or replace "satanic" abuse as it was never used to describe any rituals except the satanic ones that were the core of SRA allegations.  Abuse within the context of Chirstian, Muslim or any other religions failed to enter the SRA discourse.<ref>[[#Clapton1993|Clapton]], 1993, p. 25.</ref>

Conclusions on the origins of allegations of cult-based abuse can include actual abuse by organized groups, pseudosatanism, distortions and false memories, mental illness resulting in false reporting, deliberate lying or hoaxes and in the cases of child testimonies, allegations may be artifacts of the questioning techniques used, and TV special broadcasts.<ref name = Fraser>{{cite book | last = Fraser | first = GA | publisher = American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. | year = 1997 | title = The Dilemma of Ritual Abuse: Cautions and Guides for Therapists  | pages = [http://books.google.ca/books?id=4CMHRXz5qsQC&pg=PA105 105–117] | isbn = 0880484780 }}</ref><ref name = Edge362>[[#Edge2001|Edge]], 2001, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=LLOtSiH2E1cC&pg=PA362 362-363].</ref><ref>[[#Frankfurter2006|Frankfurter]], 2006.</ref>

===Cult-based abuse===
Allegations of cult-based abuse is the most extreme scenario of SRA.<ref name = Edge362/> During the initial period of interest starting in the early 80s the term was used to describe a network of [[Satan]]-worshipping, secretive intergenerational cults that were supposedly part of a highly organized [[conspiracy theory|conspiracy]] engaged in criminal behaviors such as forced [[prostitution]], [[Illegal drug trade|drug distribution]] and [[pornography]].  These cults were also thought to sexually abuse and [[torture]] children in order to coerce them into a lifetime of [[Theistic Satanism#Preconceptions and myths|Devil worship]].<ref name = Victor3>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA3 3-4].</ref>  Other allegations included bizarre sexual acts such as [[necrophilia]], forced ingestion of [[semen]], [[blood]] and [[feces]], [[cannibalism]], [[orgy]], liturgical parody such as pseudosacramental use of feces and urine; [[infanticide]], sacrificial abortions to eat [[fetus]]es and [[human sacrifice]]; satanic police officers who covered up evidence of SRA crimes and desecration of Christian [[grave (burial)|graves]].<ref name = Edge362/><ref>[[#Frankfurter2006|Frankfurter]], 2006, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&pg=PA127 127].</ref>  No evidence of any of these claims has ever been found;<ref name = Victor3/><ref name=Putnam1991>{{cite journal | author = Putnam, F.W. | year = 1991 | title = The Satanic Ritual Abuse Controversy. | journal = Child Abuse and Neglect: the International Journal | volume = 15 | issue = 3 | pages = 175–79 | url = http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ429989  | accessdate = 2008-06-10 | doi = 10.1016/0145-2134(91)90062-I}}</ref><ref name = LaFontaine>[[#LaFontaine1998|LaFontaine]], 1998.</ref><ref name = Lanning/> the proof presented by those who alleged the reality of cult-based abuse primarily consisted of the memories of adults recalling childhood abuse,<ref name = Brown55>[[#Brown1998|Brown, Scheflin & Hammond]], 1998, p. 55.</ref><ref name = Edge362/> the testimony of young children<ref name = Brown55/><ref name = Edge362/><ref name = Victor1617>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA16 16-17].</ref> and extremely controversial confessions.<ref name = Edge362/>  The idea of a murderous satanic conspiracy created a controversy dividing the professional [[child abuse]] community at the time, though no evidence has been found to support allegations of a large number of children being killed or abused in satanic rituals.<ref name=Putnam1991/><ref>[[#Frankfurter2006|Frankfurter]], 2006, p.[http://books.google.com/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&pg=PR13 xiii].</ref> From a law enforcement perspective, an intergenerational conspiracy dedicated to ritual sacrifice whose members remain completely silent, make no mistakes and leave no [[physical evidence]] is unlikely; cases of what the media incorrectly perceived as actual cult sacrifices (such as the 1989 case of [[Adolfo Constanzo]]) have supported this idea.<ref name = Lanning/>

===Pseudo-satanism===
Satanic ritual abuse is also used to describe the actions of "pseudo-satanists" who [[Sexual abuse|sexually abuse]] children and use the trappings of satanic rituals and claims of magical powers to coerce and terrify victims but do not believe in the rituals.<ref name = Utah/><ref name = Lanning2>{{cite book | last = Lanning | first = K | title = Satanic Ritual Abuse of Children Is Not Widespread | editor = Bender D; Leone, B | publisher = [[Greenhaven Press]], Inc | year = 1994 | series = Opposing Viewpoints Series | url = http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Search/Abstracts.aspx?id=159841&library=Publications_Lib&query=%26lt%3BRecordset%26gt%3B%26lt%3BLibrary%20name%3D%26quot%3BPublications_Lib%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%26lt%3BField%20name%3D%26quot%3BDOC_BODY%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%26lt%3BQuery%26gt%3B%26lt%3B%21%5BCDATA%5BLanning%5D%5D%26gt%3B%26lt%3B/Query%26gt%3B%26lt%3B/Field%26gt%3B%26lt%3BField%20name%3D%26quot%3Bis_full_text%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%26lt%3BQuery%26gt%3B%26lt%3B%21%5BCDATA%5BN%5D%5D%26gt%3B%26lt%3B/Query%26gt%3B%26lt%3B/Field%26gt%3B%26lt%3B/Library%26gt%3B%26lt%3B/Recordset%26gt%3B|accessdate=2008-04-29}}</ref><ref name = Lanning/>  A survey of more than 12,000 SRA allegations, which found no substantiating evidence for an intergenerational conspiracy, did document several examples of abuse by pseudo-satanists.<ref name = NCCAN>{{cite web|title=Proof Lacking for Ritual Abuse by Satanists|author= Goleman D | url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02EEDD1E3FF932A05753C1A962958260&scp=1&sq=satanic+ritual+abuse&st=nyt | date = 1994-10-31 | publisher = [[The New York Times]] | accessdate = 2008-06-07}}</ref>

===Criminal and delusional satanism===
A third variation of ritual abuse involves non-religious ritual abuse in which the rituals were [[delusion]]al or [[obsessive compulsive disorder|obsessive]].<ref name = Finkelhor/>  There are incidents of extreme sadistic crimes that are committed by individuals, loosely organized families and possibly in some organized cults, some of which may be connected to Satanism, though this is more likely to be related to sex ring trafficking; though SRA may happen in families, extended families and regional groups, it is not believed to occur in large, organized groups.<ref>[[#Brown1998|Brown, Scheflin & Hammond]], 1998, p.64-5.</ref>

===Acting out===
[[Image:Pentagramme Graffiti 250508 1.jpg|Credulous investigators considered [[graffiti]] such as the pentagram to be evidence of a satanic cult.|thumb|150px]]
Ambiguous crimes in which actual or erroneously believed symbols of satanism appear have also been claimed as part of the SRA phenomenon, though in most cases the crimes cannot be linked to a specific belief system; minor crimes such as vandalism, trespassing and graffiti were often found to be the actions of teenagers who were acting out.<ref name="pmid1471565"/><ref name="pmid8356163"/><ref name="pmid1962303"/>  Allegations of alleged victims that were obtained from mental health practitioners also occurred, but lacked verifiable evidence, were [[anecdotal evidence|anecdotal]] and involved incidents that were years or decades old.<ref>{{citation | title = Final Report of the Task Force Studying Ritual Crime | publisher = Crime Commission Task Force Studying Ritual Criminal Activity | location = Richmond, VA | year = 1991 }}; cited in [[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA263 263-264].</ref>

===Polarization===
{{Expand-section|date=July 2008}}
There was never any consensus on what actually constituted satanic ritual abuse.<ref>{{cite journal | last = de Young | first = M | authorlink = Mary de Young | year = 2007 | title = Two decades after McMartin: a follow-up of 22 convicted day care employees | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CYZ/is_4_34/ai_n25466116/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1 | accessdate = 2008-08-11 | journal = Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare | volume = 34 | issue = 4 | pages = 9–33 }}</ref>  This lack of a single definition, as well as confusion between the meanings of the term ritual ([[Ritual#Religious|religious]] versus [[Ritual#Psychology|psychological]]) allowed a wide range of allegations and evidence to be claimed as a demonstration of the reality of SRA claims, irrespective of which "definition" the evidence supported.<ref name = Bibby205>[[#Bibby1996|Bibby]], 1996, p. 205-13.</ref>  Acrimonious disagreements between groups who supported the reality of SRA allegations and those criticizing them as unsubstantiated resulted in an extremely polarized discussion with little middle ground.<ref name = Fraser/><ref name = Edge362/>  The lack of credible evidence for the more extreme interpretations can be seen as evidence of an effective conspiracy rather than an indication that the allegations are unfounded.  The atheistic or religious beliefs of the disputants have also resulted in different interpretations of evidence, and as well as accusations of those who reject the claims being "anti-child".<ref name = Edge362/><ref name= Clapton1822>[[#Clapton1993|Clapton]], 1993, p. 18-22.</ref>  Both believers and skeptics have developed networks to disseminate information on their respective positions.<ref name = Bibby27/>  One of the central themes of the discussion among English child abuse professionals was the assertion that people should simply "believe the children", and that the testimony of children was sufficient proof, which ignored the fact that in many cases the testimony of children was interpreted by professionals rather than the children explicitly disclosing allegations of abuse.  In some cases this was simultaneously presented with the idea that it did not matter if SRA actually existed, that the empirical truth of SRA was irrelevant, that the testimony of children was more important than that of doctors, social workers and the criminal justice system.<ref name = Clapton1822/>

==Evidence==
The evidence for SRA was primarily in the form of testimonies from children who made allegations of SRA, and adults who claim to remember abuse during childhood,<ref name = Utah>{{cite web | url = http://www.saferchildren.net/print/utahrataskforce.pdf | date=  1992-05-01 | accessdate = 2007-11-26 | title = Report of Utah State Task Force on Ritual Abuse | publisher = Utah Governor's Commission for Women and Families|format=PDF}}</ref><ref>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA79 79].</ref> that may have been forgotten and [[Recovered memory therapy|recovered during therapy]].<ref name = Edge362/><ref name = Brown55/><ref name = LaFontaine3>[[#LaFontaine1998|LaFontaine]], 1998, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA3 3].</ref><ref name = Bibby18>[[#Bibby1996|Bibby]], 1996, p. 18.</ref><ref>[[#Perrin2006|Perrin & Miller-Perrin]], 2006, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=AJgxUqce5GcC&pg=PA318 318-20].</ref><ref name = Furies>{{cite book |author=Underwager, Ralph C.; Wakefield, Hollida |title=Return of the furies: an investigation into recovered memory therapy |publisher=Open Court |location=La Salle, Ill |year=1995 |pages= [http://books.google.com/books?id=iE1-i0umaTsC&pg=PA317 317–21] |isbn=0-8126-9272-1 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate= | url = }}</ref>  With both children and adults, no corroborating evidence has been found for anything except [[#Pseudosatanism|pseudosatanism]] in which the satanic and ritual aspects were secondary to and used as a cover for sexual abuse.<ref name = LaFontaine3/>   Despite this lack of objective evidence, and aided by the competing definitions of what SRA actually was, proponents claimed SRA was a real phenomenon throughout the peak and during the decline of the moral panic.<ref>{{cite book |author=Devine, Susan E.; Sakheim, David K. |title=Out of darkness: exploring satanism and ritual abuse |publisher=Lexington Books |location=Lexington, Mass |year=1992 |pages= 173 |isbn =0-669-26962-X |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}</ref><ref name = Bibby18/>  Despite allegations appearing in the United States, Holland, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia, no material evidence has been found to corroborate allegations of organized cult-based abuse that practices human sacrifice and cannibalism.<ref>[[#Frankfurter2006|Frankfurter]], 2006, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&pg=PA123 123].</ref><ref name = Furies/> 

===Investigations===
Two investigations were carried out to assess the evidence for SRA.  In the United States, evidence was reported but was based on a flawed methodology with an overly liberal definition of a substantiated case.  In the United Kingdom, a government report produced no evidence of SRA, but several examples of false satanists faking rituals to frighten their victims.

====United States====
[[David Finkelhor]] completed an investigation of child sexual abuse in daycares in the United States, and published a report in 1988.  The report found 270 cases of sexual abuse, of which 36 were classified as substantiated cases ritual abuse.<ref name = Finkelhor/>  [[Mary de Young]] has pointed out that the report's definition of "substantiated" was overly-liberal as it required only that one agency had decided that abuse had occurred, even if no action were taken, no arrests made, no operating licenses suspended.  In addition, multiple agencies may have been involved in each case (including the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], local police, social services agencies and childhood protective services in many cases), with wide differences in suspicion and confirmation, often in disagreement with each other.  Finkelhor, upon receiving a "confirmation", would collect information from whoever was willing or interested to provide it and did not independently investigate the cases, resulting in frequent errors in their conclusions.  No data is provided beyond case studies and brief summaries.<ref name = deYoung>[[#Deyoung2004|De Young]], 2004, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=_e8ZkJBtz0EC&pg=PA102 102].</ref>  Three other cases considered corroborating by the public —the [[McMartin preschool trial]], a pre-school in [[Country Walk, Florida]] and the murders in [[Matamoros, Tamaulipas|Matamoros]], by [[Adolfo Constanzo]]— ultimately provided failed to support the existence of SRA. The primary witness in the Country Walk case repeatedly made, then withdrew accusations against her husband amid unusual and coercive inquiries by her lawyer and a psychologist.  The Matamoros murders produced the bodies of 12 adults who were ritually sacrificed by a drug gang inspired by the film ''[[The Believers]]'', but did not involve children or sexual abuse.  The McMartin case resulted in no convictions and was ultimately based on accusations by children with no proof beyond their coerced testimonies.<ref name = Faller/>  A 1996 investigation of more than 12,000 allegations of satanic, ritual and religious abuse resulted in no cases that were considered factual or corroborated.<ref name=Bottoms1996>{{cite journal | author = Bottoms, B.L. | coauthors = Shaver, P.R.; Goodman, G.S. | year = 1996 | title = An analysis of ritualistic and religion-related child abuse allegations | journal = Law and Human Behavior | volume = 20 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–34  | accessdate = 2007-10-22 | doi = 10.1007/BF01499130}}</ref>

====United Kingdom====
A British study published in 1996 found 62 cases of alleged ritual abuse reported to researchers by police, social and welfare agencies from the period of 1988 to 1991, representing a tiny proportion extremely high profile cases compared to the total number investigated by the agencies.<ref>Hughes & Parker in [[#Bibby1996|Bibby]], 1996, p. 215-230.</ref>  Anthropologist Jean La Fontaine spend several years researching ritual abuse cases in Britain at the behest of the government.  Producing several reports and the 1998 book ''Speak of the Devil'', after reviewing cases reported to police and children's protecitve services throughout the country La Fontaine concluded that the only rituals he uncovered were those invented by child abusers to frighten their victims or justify the sexual abuse.  In addition, the sexual abuse occurred outside of the rituals, indicating the goal of the abuser was sexual gratification rather than ritualistic or religious.  In cases involving satanic abuse, the satanic allegations by younger children were influenced by adults, and the concerns over the satanic aspects were found to be compelling due to cultural attraction of the concept, but distracting from the actual harm caused to the abuse victims.<ref>{{cite book |author=La Fontaine, J S. |title=The extent and nature of organised and ritual abuse: research findings |publisher=HMSO |location=London |year=1994 |pages= |isbn=0-11-321797-8 |oclc= |doi= |url = http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/publications/Abstract.aspx?id=157278 }}</ref><ref name = LaFontaine>[[#LaFontaine1998|LaFontaine]], 1998.</ref><ref name = Bibby205/>  

===Patient allegations===
[[Image:Pr Charcot DSC09405.jpg|Adult reports of SRA are believed to be the result of improper therapy techniques, including hypnosis.|thumb|120px]]
The majority of adult testimonials occurred as a result of adults undergoing psychotherapy, in most cases therapy designed to elicit memories of SRA.<ref name = Frankfurter2003/><ref name = LaFontaine5>[[#LaFontaine1998|LaFontaine]], 1998, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA5 5].</ref> Therapists claimed the pain expressed by the patients, internal consistency of their stories and similarity of allegations by different patients was evidence for SRA, but despite this, the disclosures of patients never resulted in any corroboration;<ref>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, p.[http://books.google.com/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA86 86].</ref> the concern for therapists revolves around the pain of their clients, which is for them more important than the truth of their patients' statements<ref name = Bibby27>[[#Bibby1996|Bibby]], 1996, p. 27-28.</ref>  A sample of 29 patients in a medical clinic reporting SRA found no corroboration of the claims in medical records or in discussion with family members.<ref name=Coons>{{cite journal |author=Coons PM |title=Reports of satanic ritual abuse: further implications about pseudomemories |journal=Percept Mot Skills |volume=78 |issue=3 Pt 2 |pages=1376–8 |year=1994 |month=June |pmid=7936968 |doi= |url= |accessdate=2008-06-07}}</ref> and a survey of 2709 American therapists found the majority of allegations of SRA came from only sixteen therapists, suggesting that the determining factor in a patient making allegations of SRA was the therapist's predisposition.<ref>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA257 257-8].</ref>

===Children's allegations===
{{Expand-section|date=August 2008}}
The second group to make allegations of SRA were young children.  During the 'satanic panic' of the 1980s, the techniques used by investigators to gather evidence from witnesses, particularly young children, evolved to become very leading, coercive and suggestive, pressuring young children to provide testimony and refusing to accept denials while offering inducements that encouraged false disclosures.<ref name = Frankfurter2003/><ref name="Schreiber et al"/><ref name="Nathan"/>  The interviewing techniques used were the factors believed to have led to the construction of the bizarre disclosures of SRA by the children.<ref name = LaFontaine5/><ref>[[#Frankfurter2006|Frankfurter]], 2006, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&pg=PA56 56f], [http://books.google.com/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&pg=PA61 61-65], [http://books.google.com/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&pg=PA73 73f] & [http://books.google.com/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&pg=PA192 192-195].</ref>

==Skepticism==
===As a moral panic===
SRA has been described as a [[moral panic]]<ref>[[#Deyoung2004|De Young]], 2004.</ref> and compared to the [[blood libel]] and [[witch-hunt]]s of historical [[Europe]],<ref name=Frankfurter2/><ref name="pmid9443001">{{cite journal |author=Sjöberg RL |title=False allegations of satanic abuse: case studies from the witch panic in Rättvik 1670-71 |journal=Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=219–26 |year=1997 |month=December |pmid=9443001 |doi= 10.1007/BF00539929|url= |accessdate=2008-06-07}}</ref><ref name = Lewis/><ref name = Goode/><ref name = Frankfurter1994>{{cite journal | last = Frankfurter | first = D | year = 1994 | title = Religious Studies and Claims of Satanic Ritual Abuse: A Rejoinder to Stephen Kent | journal = Religion | volume = 24 | pages = 353-360}}</ref> and [[McCarthyism]] in the United States during the 20th century.<ref name = Nathan>[[#Nathan1998|Nathan & Snedeker]], 1998.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|name=Jenkins P & Maier-Katkin D |title=Satanism: Myth and reality in a contemporary moral panic|journal=Crime, Law and Social Change|publisher=Springer Netherlands|volume=17 | issue = 1 | year = 1992|doi=10.1007/BF00190171|pages=53–75|author=Jenkins, Philip|unused_data=|ISSN 0925-4994 (Print) 1573-0751 (Online)}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title= The Satanism scare: an anthropological view|author=Richardson JT; Best J; & Bromley DG |publisher = Aldine Transaction | year = 1991 | isbn = 0202303799 | pages = [http://books.google.com/books?id=MY7sQuT0MnMC&pg=PA234 234]}}</ref><ref name = Victor>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993.</ref>  The initial investigations of SRA were performed by anthropologists and sociologists, who failed to find evidence of SRA actually occurring; instead they concluded that SRA was a result of rumors and [[Folklore|folk legends]] that were spread by "media hype, Christian fundamentalism, mental health and law enforcement professionals and child abuse advocates."<ref name = Fraser/>  Sociologists and journalists noted the vigorous nature with which some evangelical activists and groups were using claims of SRA to further their religious and political goals.<ref name = Victor/>  Other commentators suggested that the entire phenomenon may be evidence of a "[[moral panic]]" over Satanism and child abuse.<ref name=Deyoung1996>{{cite journal | author = De Young, M. | authorlink = Mary de Young | year = 1996 | title = A painted devil: Constructing the satanic ritual abuse of children problem | journal = Aggression and Violent Behavior | volume = 1 | issue = 3 | pages = 235–248 | url = http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/1359178995000097  | accessdate = 2007-11-20 | doi = 10.1016/1359-1789(95)00009-7}}</ref> Skeptical explanations for allegations of SRA have included an attempt by [[Radical feminism|"radical feminists"]] to undermine the [[nuclear family]],<ref>{{cite book |author=Underwager, Ralph C.; Wakefield, Hollida |title=Return of the furies: an investigation into recovered memory therapy |publisher=Open Court |location=La Salle, Ill |year=1995 |pages= |isbn=0812692721 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref> a backlash against working women,<ref name = Nathan>[[#Nathan1995|Nathan & Snedeker]], 1995.</ref> homophobic attacks on gay childcare workers,<ref>{{cite book |author=Hood, Lynley |title=A City Possessed: The Christchurch Civic Creche Case |publisher=Longacre Press |location= |year= |pages= |isbn=1877135623 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref> a universal need to believe in evil,<ref name=Frankfurter2001/> fear of alternative spiritualities,<ref name = LaFontaine/> "end of the millennium" anxieties,<ref name = Hystories>{{cite book |author=Showalter, Elaine |title=Hystories: hysterical epidemics and modern media |publisher= [[Columbia University Press]] |location=New York |year=1997 |isbn=0231104596 | pages = [http://books.google.com/books?id=lTL34npiiV0C&pg=PA171 171-88] |oclc= |doi=}}</ref> or a transient form of temporal lobe epilepsy.<ref name=Paley2001>{{cite journal | author = Paley, J. | year = 2001 | title = Satanist abuse and alien abduction: A comparative analysis theorizing temporal lobe activity as a possible connection between anomalous memories | journal = British Journal of Social Work | volume = 27 | issue = 1 | pages = 43–70 | issn = 0045-3102 }}</ref>

Victor points out that in the United States the groups most likely to believe rumours of SRA are rural, poorly educated religiously [[Conservative Christianity|conservative]] [[Protestantism|Protestant]] [[Blue-collar worker|blue-collar]] families with an unquestioning belief in [[Culture of the United States|American values]] who felt significant anxieties over job loss, economic decline and family disintegration.  He considers rumours of SRA a symptom of a moral crisis and form of [[scapegoat]]ing for economic and social ills.<ref>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA55 55-6].</ref>

===Origins of the rumors===
Information about SRA claims spread through conferences presented to religious groups, churches and professionals such as police forces and therapists as well as parents.  These conferences and presentations served to organize agencies and foster communication between groups, maintaining and spreading disproven or exaggerated stories as fact.<ref name = CA/>  Members of local police forces organized into loose networks focused on cult crimes, some of whom billed themselves as "experts" and were paid to speak at conferences throughout the United States.  Religious revivalists also took advantage of the rumours and preached about the dangers of Satanism to youth and presenting at paid engagements as secular experts.<ref>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993 p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA22 22-23].</ref>  At the height of the panic, the highly emotional accusations and circumstances of SRA allegations made it difficult to investigate the claims, with the accused being assumed as guilty and skeptics becoming co-accused during trials, and trials moving forward based solely on the testimony of very young children without corroborating evidence.<ref name = Victor1617/>  No [[forensic evidence|forensic]] or corroborating evidence has ever been found for religiously-based cannibalistic or murderous allegations of SRA, despite extensive investigations.<ref name = Fraser/><ref name = Bibby205/><ref name = LaFontaine5/><ref>[[#Frankfurter2006|Frankfurter]], 2006, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&pg=PA213 213].</ref>  The concern and reaction expressed by various groups regarding the seriousness or threat of SRA has been considered out of proportion to the actual threat by satanically-motivated crimes, and the rare crime that exists that may be labeled "satanic" does not justify the existence of a conspiracy or network of religiously-motivated child abusers.<ref name = Robbins>{{cite journal |last = Robbins | first = T | title = Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend- book reviews | journal =Sociology of Religion | url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0SOR/is_n3_v55/ai_15729291/pg_1 |year = 1994 | accessdate = 2008-06-27}}</ref><ref>[[#LaFontaine1998|LaFontaine]], 1998, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA20 20-1].</ref>

===Investigations===
Jeffrey Victor reviewed 67 rumours about SRA in the United States and Canada reported in newspapers or television, and found no evidence supporting the existence of murderous satanic cults.<ref>[[#Victor1993|Victor]], 1993, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA330 330-354].</ref>  Lafontaine states that cases of alleged SRA investigated in the [[United Kingdom]] were reviewed in detail and the majority were unsubstantiated; three were found to involve sexual abuse of children in the context of rituals, but none involved the [[Witches' Sabbath]] or devil-worship that are characteristic of allegations of SRA.<ref>[[#LaFontaine|LaFontaine]], 1998, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA11 11].</ref> Lafontaine also states that no material evidence has been forthcoming in allegations of SRA, no bones, bodies or blood, in either the United States or Britain.

Kenneth Lanning, an expert in the investigation of child sexual abuse,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress02/heimbach050102.htm | title = Testimony of Michael J. Heimbach, Crimes Against Children Unit | last = Heimbach | first = MJ | date = 2002-05-01 | publisher = United States Congress | accessdate=2008-04-30}}</ref> has stated that pseudo-satanism may exist but there is no proof for vast conspiracies and human sacrifices. <blockquote>There are many possible alternative answers to the question of why victims are alleging things that don't seem to be true....I believe that there is a middle ground — a continuum of possible activity. Some of what the victims allege may be true and accurate, some may be misperceived or distorted, some may be screened or symbolic, and some may be "contaminated" or false. The problem and challenge, especially for law enforcement, is to determine which is which. This can only be done through active investigation. I believe that the majority of victims alleging "ritual" abuse are in fact
victims of some form of abuse or trauma.<ref name = Lanning/></blockquote> 

Lanning produced a [[monograph]] in 1994 on SRA aimed at child protection authorities, which contained his opinion that despite hundreds of investigations no corroboration of SRA had been found.  Following this report, several convictions based on SRA allegations were overturned and the defendants released.<ref>[[#Nathan1995|Nathan & Snedeker]], 1995, p. 230.</ref>

Reported cases of SRA involve bizarre activities, some of which are impossible (like people flying),<ref name="Schreiber et al">{{cite journal | last = Schreiber| first = Nadja| authorlink = | coauthors = Lisa Bellah, Yolanda Martinez, Kristin McLaurin, Renata Stok, Sena Garven and James Wood| title =  Suggestive interviewing in the McMartin Preschool and Kelly Michaels daycare abuse cases: A case study| journal =Social Influence  | volume = 1| issue = 1| pages = 16–46| publisher = Psychology Press| location =  | year = 2006| url = http://digitalcommons.utep.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=james_wood | doi = 10.1080/15534510500361739}}</ref> that makes the credibility of victims of child sexual abuse questionable.  In cases where SRA is alleged to occur, Lanning describes common dynamics of the use of fear to control multiple young victims, the presence of multiple perpetrators and strange or ritualized behaviors, though allegations of crimes such as human sacrifice and cannibalism do not seem to be true.  Lanning also suggests several reasons why adult victims may make allegations of SRA, including "pathological distortion, traumatic memory, normal childhood fears and fantasies, misperception, and confusion".<ref name = Lanning2/>

==Court cases==
{{Main|List of satanic ritual abuse allegations}}
Allegations of SRA have appeared throughout the world. The failure of certain high-profile legal cases generated worldwide media attention, and came to play a central feature in the growing controversies over child abuse, memory and the law.<ref name=Brown>{{cite book |author=Brown, DP, Scheflin, AW & Hammond, DC |title=Memory, trauma treatment, and the law |publisher=W.W. Norton |location=New York |year=1998 |pages= |isbn=0393702545 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref>{{Verify source|date=August 2008}}

In one analysis of 36 court cases involving sexual abuse of children within rituals, only one quarter resulted in convictions and the convictions had little to do with ritual sex abuse.<ref name = CA>{{citation | last = Charlier | first = T | coauthors = Downing S | year = 1988 | title = Allegations Rife, Evidence Slight | publisher = [[The Commercial Appeal]] | location = Memphis, TN }}; cited in [[#Victor1993|Victor 1993 p. 17]]</ref>  In a 1994 survey of more than 11,000 psychiatric and police workers throughout the US, conducted for the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, researchers investigated approximately 12,000 accusations of group cult sexual abuse based on satanic ritual. The survey found no substantiated reports of well-organized satanic rings of people who sexually abuse children, but did find incidents in which the ritualistic aspects were secondary to the abuse and were used to intimidate victims.<ref name = NCCAN/>  Victor reviewed 21 court cases alleging SRA between 1983 and 1987 in which no prosecutions were obtained for ritual abuse.<ref>[[#Victor1993|Victor 1993 p. 355-361]]</ref>  

During the early 1980s, some courts attempted ''[[ad hoc]]'' accommodations to address the anxieties of child witnesses in relation to testifying before defendants. Screens or [[closed-circuit television|CCTV]] technology are a common feature of child sexual assault trials today; children in the early 1980s were typically forced into direct visual contact with the accused abuser while in court. SRA allegations in the courts catalyzed a broad agenda of research into the nature of children's testimony and the reliability of their oral evidence in court.  Ultimately in SRA cases, the coercive techniques used by believing district attorneys, therapists and police officers were critical in establishing, and often resolving, SRA cases.  In courts, when juries were able to see recordings or transcripts of interviews with children, the alleged abusers were acquitted.  The reaction by successful prosecutors, spread throughout conventions and conferences on SRA, was to destroy, or fail to take notes of the interviews in the first place.<ref>Nathan & Snedeker, 224-7.</ref>  One group of researchers concluded that children usually lack the sufficient amount of "explicit knowledge" of satanic ritual abuse to fabricate all of the details of an SRA claim on their own.<ref name=Goodman1997>{{cite journal | author = Goodman, G.S. | coauthors = Quas, J.A.; Bottoms, B.L.; Qin, J.; Shaver, P.R.; Orcutt, H.; Shapiro, C. | year = 1997 | title = Children's religious knowledge: Implications for understanding satanic ritual abuse allegations | journal = Child Abuse & Neglect | volume = 21 | issue = 11 | pages = 1111–1130 | doi = 10.1016/S0145-2134(97)00070-7 }}</ref> However, the same researchers also concluded that children usually have the sufficient amount of general knowledge of "violence and the occult" to "serve as a starting point from which ritual claims could develop."<ref name=Goodman1997/>

==Dissociative identity disorder==
SRA has been linked to [[dissociative identity disorder]] (DID, formerly referred to as multiple personality disorder or MPD),<ref name=Young1991>{{cite journal |author=Young WC, Sachs RG, Braun BG, Watkins RT |title=Patients reporting ritual abuse in childhood: a clinical syndrome. Report of 37 cases |journal=Child Abuse Negl |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=181–9 |year=1991 |pmid=2043970 |doi= 10.1016/0145-2134(91)90063-J|url=}}</ref><ref name=Van1990/> with many DID patients also alleging cult abuse.<ref name =EAS>{{cite book |chapter = The extreme abuse surveys: Preliminary findings regarding dissociative identity disorder |last = Becker | first = T | coauthors = Karriker W; Overkamp B; Rutz, C |year = 2008 |pages= 32–49 | title= Forensic aspects of dissociative identity disorder |editors = Sachs, A; Galton, G.(Eds) | publisher = Karnac Books | location = London | isbn =1-855-75596-3}}</ref><ref name = Sachs>{{cite conference  | author = Sachs, R.  | coauthors = Braun, B.  | year = 1987  | title = Issues in treating MPD patients with satanic cult involvement  | conference = Fourth International Conference on Multiple Personality/ Dissociative States | booktitle = Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Multiple Personality/ Dissociative States | pages = 383-87   | publisher = Rush-Presbyterian-St.Luke's Medical Center | location = Chicago}} as cited in {{cite book  | author = Sakheim, D.K. | year = 1992  | title = Out of Darkness: Exploring Satanism and Ritual Abuse  | publisher = Lexington Books  | isbn =0-669-26962-X}}</ref>  Many DID patients report memories that they allege are forms of ritual abuse though most are undocumented.<ref name=KPaley>{{cite journal |last=Paley |first=K. |year=1992 |month=June |title=Dream wars: a case study of a woman with multiple personality disorder |journal=Dissociation | volume = 5 | issue = 2 | format = PDF | pages = 111–116 | url = https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/bitstream/1794/1646/1/Diss_5_2_9_OCR.pdf |accessdate= 2008-06-09}}</ref>  The first person to publish a survivor story about SRA was Michelle Smith, co-author of ''[[Michelle Remembers]]''; Smith was diagnosed by her therapist and later husband [[Lawrence Pazder]] with DID.<ref>[[#Victor1993|Victor 1993]], p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA81 81].</ref> 

A survey investigating 12,000 cases of alleged SRA found that most were diagnosed with DID as well as [[post-traumatic stress disorder]].<ref name=Bottoms1996/> The level of [[dissociation (psychology)|dissociation]] in a sample of women alleging SRA was found to be higher than a comparable sample of non-SRA peers, approaching the levels shown by patients diagnosed with DID.<ref name=Leavitt1994>{{cite journal  | author = Leavitt, F.  | year = 1994  | title = Clinical Correlates of Alleged Satanic Abuse and Less Controversial Sexual Molestation.  | journal = Child Abuse and Neglect: the International Journal  | volume = 18   | issue = 4   | pages = 387–92 | url = http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ483422&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ483422 | accessdate = 2008-06-15  | doi = 10.1016/0145-2134(94)90041-8}}</ref> A sample of patients diagnosed with DID and reporting childhood SRA also present other symptoms including "dissociative states with satanic overtones, severe post-traumatic stress disorder, survivor guilt, bizarre [[self abuse]], unusual fears, sexualization of sadistic impulses, indoctrinated beliefs, and substance abuse".<ref name=Young1991/> Commenting on the study, Philip Coons stated that patients were held together in a ward dedicated to dissociative disorders with ample opportunity to socialize, that the memories were recovered through the use of hypnosis (which he considers questionable).<ref name = Coons/> No cases were referred to law enforcement for verification, nor was verification attempted through family members,.  Coons also pointed out that existing injuries could have been self-inflicted, that the experiences reported were "strikingly similar" and that "many of the SRA reports developed while patients were hospitalized".<ref name = Fraser/>  The reliability of memories of DID clients who alleged SRA in treatment has been questioned and a point of contention in the popular media and with clinicians; many of the allegations made are fundamentally impossible and alleged surivors lack the physical scars that would result were their allegations true.<ref name=Van1990/>

Many women claiming to be SRA survivors have been diagnosed as sufferers of DID, and it is unclear if their claims of childhood abuse are accurate or a manifestation of their diagnosis.<ref>[[#Victor1993|Victor 1993]] p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&pg=PA89 89].</ref>  A sampling of 29 patients who presented with SRA, 22 were diagnosed with dissociative disorders including DID.  The authors noted that 58% of the SRA claims appeared in the years following the Geraldo Rivera special on SRA and a further 34% following a workshop on SRA presented in the area; in only two patients were the memories elicited without the use of "questionable therapeutic practices for memory retrieval."<ref name = Coons/>  Claims of SRA by DID patients have been called "...often nothing more than fantastic pseudomemories implanted or reinforced in psychotherapy"<ref name="pmid15503730">{{cite journal |author=Piper A, Merskey H |title=The persistence of folly: a critical examination of dissociative identity disorder. Part I. The excesses of an improbable concept |journal=Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie |volume=49 |issue=9 |pages=592–600 |year=2004 |pmid=15503730 |doi=| url = http://ww1.cpa-apc.org:8080/Publications/Archives/CJP/2004/september/piper.pdf | format = PDF}}</ref> and SRA as a cultural script of the perception of DID.<ref name="pmid11778708">{{cite journal |author=Stafford J, Lynn SJ |title=Cultural scripts, memories of childhood abuse, and multiple identities: a study of role-played enactments |journal=Int J Clin Exp Hypn |volume=50 |issue=1 |pages=67–85 |year=2002 |month=January |pmid=11778708 |doi= 10.1080/00207140208410091|url= |accessdate=2008-06-07}}</ref>  Some believe that memories of SRA are solely [[Iatrogenesis|iatrogenically]] implanted memories from suggestive [[Psychotherapy|therapeutic]] techniques,<ref name = MakingMonsters>{{cite book |author=Watters, Ethan; [[Richard Ofshe|Ofshe, Richard]] |title=Making monsters: false memories, psychotherapy, and sexual hysteria |publisher=Charles Scribner's |location=New York |year=1994 |pages= 177–204|isbn=0-684-19698-0 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Ketcham, Katherine; Loftus, Elizabeth F. |title=The myth of repressed memory: false memories and allegations of sexual abuse |publisher=St. Martin's Griffin |location=New York |year=1996 |pages= |isbn=0-312-14123-8 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate= | url = http://books.google.ca/books?id=13JZozT2kMYC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0}} as cited in Brown et al. 1998</ref> though this has been criticized by Daniel Brown, Alan Scheflin and Corydon Hammond for what they argue as over-reaching the scientific data that supports an iatrogenic theory.<ref>Brown et al. 1998, p. 408.</ref>  Others have criticized Hammond specifically for using therapeutic techniques to gather information from clients that rely solely on information fed by the therapist in a manner that highly suggests iatrogenesis.<ref name = MakingMonsters/> Skeptics claimed that the increase in DID diagnosis on the 1980s and 1990s and its association with memories of SRA is evidence of malpractice by treating professionals.<ref>{{cite book |author=Pendergrast, Mark |title=Victims of memory: incest accusations and shattered lives |publisher=Upper Access |location=Hinesburg, Vt |year=1995 |pages= |isbn=0-942679-16-4 |oclc= |doi=| url = http://books.google.ca/books?id=zZgSSh6L4HIC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0}}</ref> 

Much of the body of literature on the treatment of ritually abused patients focuses on dissociative disorders.<ref name= Fraser/><ref name=RossLoftus>{{cite book |title=Satanic Ritual Abuse: Principles of Treatment |first=CA |last=Ross |authorlink=Colin A. Ross|year=1996 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=0802073573| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=3PkKrgn2CrUC&printsec=frontcover}}</ref>

Some "survivors" have re-evaluated their own allegations of SRA, believing the memories of satanic ritual abuse were the result attempt to deal with actual abuse using dissociative processes that produced false memories.<ref>Conte, 2002, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=qBSuIMgJLNYC&pg=PA12 12-14].</ref>

==False memories==
{{Expand-section|date=August 2008}}
One explanation for the SRA allegations is that they were based upon false memories caused by the over-use of hypnosis and other suggesetive techniques by therapists underestimating the suggestibility of their clients.<ref>Loftus & Ketcham, 1996, p. [http://books.google.ca/books?id=13JZozT2kMYC&pg=PA85 85].</ref>  Advocates of [[false memory syndrome]] (FMS), a controversial term promoted by the [[False Memory Syndrome Foundation]], claim that the purported "memories" of ritual abuse are actually false memories, created [[iatrogenesis|iatrogenically]] through suggestion or coercion.<ref name = Fraser/> Noblitt and Perskin argue that the FMSF circulates data that comes from biased and unscientific sources and from the same data derives unfounded conclusions.<ref>[[#Noblitt2000|Noblitt & Perskin]], 2000, p.[http://books.google.ca/books?id=zJkTTpfyJ-8C&pg=PA226 226].</ref> The FMSF has used the idea of ritual abuse as a strategy to illustrate their position that most allegations of sexual abuse uncovered by the suggestive techniques used during recovered memory therapy are false "memories" of events that never happened.  According to Kathleen Faller this has contributed to the sensationalization of the ritual abuse cases in the media.<ref>[[#Faller2003|Faller]], 2003, p. [http://books.google.com/books?id=AJgxUqce5GcC&pg=PA 51].</ref>

==See also==
* [[Day care sex abuse hysteria]]
* [[Diana Napolis]]
* [[False allegation of child sexual abuse]]
* [[File 18]]
* [[Pace memorandum]]

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
*<cite id = Bibby1996>{{cite book |author=Bibby PA |title=Organised Abuse: The Current Debate |publisher=Arena |location=Aldershot, England |year= 1996 |pages= |isbn=1-85742-284-8 |oclc= |doi= | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=imFHAAAAMAAJ&pgis=1}}
*<cite id=Clapton1993>{{cite book |author=Clapton G|title=Satanic Abuse Controversy: Social Workers and the Social Work Press (Essential Issues in the 1990s) |publisher=University of North London Press |location= |year=1993 |isbn=1-85377-154-6 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}
*<cite id =Deyoung2004>{{cite book | last = de Young | first = Mary | title = The Day Care Ritual Abuse Moral Panic | authorlink = Mary de Young | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=_e8ZkJBtz0EC | year = 2004 | publisher = McFarland and Company | location = Jefferson, North Carolina, United States | isbn = 0786418303 }}
*<cite id=Eberle1993>{{cite book |author = Eberle P & Eberle S |authorlink= Paul and Shirley Eberle | title=The Abuse of Innocence: The McMartin Preschool Trial|url=http://www.amazon.com/Abuse-Innocence-McMartin-Preschool-Trial/dp/0879758090 |year=1993 |publisher=[[Prometheus Books]] |isbn=0879758090 | pages =}}</cite>
*<cite id=Edge2001>{{cite book |author=Edge PW |title=Legal Responses to Religious Difference |publisher=Springer |location=Berlin |year=2001 |pages= |isbn=90-411-1678-8 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate= | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=LLOtSiH2E1cC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 }}
*<cite id=Faller2003>{{cite book |author=Faller KC |title=Understanding and assessing child sexual maltreatment |publisher=Sage Publications |location=Thousand Oaks |year=2003 |pages= |isbn=0-7619-1996-1 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=AJgxUqce5GcC&printsec=frontcover}}
*<cite id=Frankfurter2006>{{cite book  | last = Frankfurter | first = D | authorlink =  | title = Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Ritual Abuse in History  | publisher = [[Princeton University Press]]  | year = 2006 | location = Princeton, NJ  | pages = | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 | doi =  | id =  | isbn = 0691113505}}
*<cite id=Brown1998>{{cite book |author=Hammond DC; Brown DP & Scheflin AW |title=Memory, trauma treatment, and the law |publisher= [[W. W. Norton & Company|W.W. Norton]] |location=New York |year=1998 |pages= |isbn=0-393-70254-5 |oclc= |doi= |accessdate=}}
*<cite id=LaFontaine1998>{{cite book |author=LaFontaine JS |title=Speak of the Devil: allegations of satanic abuse in Britain |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 | year=1998 |pages= |isbn=0521629349 |oclc= |doi=}}
*<cite id=Nathan1995>{{cite book |last=Nathan|first=D |authorlink=Debbie Nathan|coauthors =Snedeker M | title=Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=JVVsAAAAIAAJ&q |year=1995 |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |isbn=0879758090 | pages = }}
*<cite id = Noblitt2000>{{cite book | coauthors = Perskin PS | last = Noblitt | first = JR |title=Cult and ritual abuse: its history, anthropology, and recent discovery in contemporary America |publisher= [[Greenwood Publishing Group|Praeger]] |location=New York |year=2000 |pages= |isbn=0-275-96665-8 |oclc= |doi= | url = http://books.google.ca/books?id=zJkTTpfyJ-8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0 }}
*<cite id = Perrin2006>{{cite book |author=Perrin RD; Miller-Perrin CL |title=Child maltreatment: an introduction |publisher=Sage Publications |location=Thousand Oaks |year=2006|isbn=1412926688 |oclc= |doi=| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=AJgxUqce5GcC&printsec=frontcover |accessdate=}}
*<cite id = Victor1993>{{cite book|title=Satanic Panic: The Creation of a Contemporary Legend|author=Victor JS|publisher= [[Open Court Publishing Company]]|year=1993|isbn=081269192X | url = http://books.google.ca/books?id=abJqF8csPrQC&printsec=frontcover}}

==External links==
*{{DMOZ|Society/Issues/Children,_Youth_and_Family/Child_Abuse/Ritual_Abuse|Ritual abuse}}
*{{DMOZ|Society/Issues/Children,_Youth_and_Family/Child_Abuse/Ritual_Abuse/Opposing_Views|Skeptical views on satanic ritual abuse}} 

[[Category:Crimes involving Satanism or the occult]]
[[Category:Urban legends]]
[[Category:Day care sexual abuse hysteria| ]]⏎

[[lt:Satanistinių ritualų mitas]]
[[nl:Satanisch ritueel misbruik]]
[[ja:悪魔的儀式虐待]]
[[ru:Сатанинская паника]]
[[sv:Satanic ritual abuse]]