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Forensic Considerations in Ritual Trauma Cases (Part 2) - Page 14

© Sylvia Gillotte, attorney

These factors may be particularly frustrating to law enforcement officers who wish to put a stop to this activity. It is important to recognize, however, that the very nature and structure of organized cults prohibit their infiltration. In order for a law enforcement officer or investigator to penetrate a cult, he or she would have to earn the trust of the group. This would necessarily involve engaging in illegal and offensive activities, including the drinking of blood and urine, the eating of feces, and participation in animal sacrifice at a minimum. Only after these repeated tests and trials would any individual be permitted to participate in more intimate and heinous rites involving child sexual abuse, mutilation, and sacrifice. Consequently, it would be unrealistic to consider this avenue of pursuit.

Physical and electronic surveillance of these groups can likewise be difficult or impossible, even when ritual holiday dates are known and understood. Cult ceremonies are usually conducted late at night in remote wooded areas, or in buildings which are under the total control of perpetrators. These sites are highly guarded both before, during, and after an event. In fact, children who have not yet been terrorized and programmed into total secrecy are more likely than adults who are actively involved to relate where such activity has taken place. Unfortunately, unlike adults, children are not given location information in advance of a ceremony. This is not the least bit helpful to law enforcement.

Even more problematic is the fact that law enforcement agencies are often infiltrated by cults at virtually every operational level. This should come as no surprise to anyone since members are groomed to pursue these positions and there are economic and other interests to protect. Cult members who are strategically placed in the system are usually one step ahead of any investigation so that they can run interference and effectively derail investigative and prosecutorial efforts. In sophisticated cult networks, these connections in the system can run very high and very deep, so professionals working with ritual trauma victims should not be surprised to run across evidence that they, themselves, are “under surveillance.”

Inasmuch as all of these factors create unique challenges and obstacles for professionals to overcome, it may be helpful to break the problem down into several general components: 1) PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

First of all, there will rarely be physical evidence to substantiate allegations of abuse involving organized cults. Unlike criminal investigations involving dabblers and self-styled cultists that might produce ritual paraphernalia or even mutilated victims, intergenerational cults are highly organized and extremely secretive concerning their activities. Ritual sites and ceremonial implements are carefully guarded before, during, and after ritual ceremonies. Since the successful operation of the cult is dependent upon absolute secrecy, thorough and systematic disposal of any and all evidence is routine.

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