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Call for Policy to Increase Protection for Victims of Ritual Abuse in San Diego, Part I

© Ellen Lacter, PhD

Introduction by svali: Often, in today's climate in which court systems and Child Protective Services all too often turn a blind eye to the problem of ritual abuse, it can be easy to fall into discouragement, or wonder if things will ever change. Luckily, there are advocates for survivors who have decided that change IS possible, and that by delineating problems with our current methods of dealing with ritual abuse, and outlining methods to begin solving these problems, that help-and hope-can be given to survivors. I greatly admire Ms. Lacter's courage and thoughtfulness in this statement, and the honest questions she asks in this letter that she has sent to various public organizations in San Diego. Her thoughts are objective, based on reality, and well-organized, and my fervent hope is that those it is addressed to will hear her out. You can read more articles by Ellen Lacter on her site at http://truthbeknown2000.tripod.com/Truth... where this article was originally published.

Call for Policy to Increase Protection for Victims of Ritual Abuse in San Diego, Part I

by Ellen P. Lacter, Ph.D., October 4, 2002 (reprinted with the permission of the author)

I. Problem: Lack of Protection for Victims of Ritual Abuse in San Diego County

Victims of ritual abuse in San Diego receive little or no protection due to problems in the functioning of the following public organizations:

A. District Attorney's Office

B. San Diego Union-Tribune

C. Civil Grand Jury of San Diego County

D. Children's Service's Bureau and Treatment, Evaluation, and Resource Management Team

E. Law Enforcement

F. Family Court

A. District Attorney's Office

The District Attorney's office presently appears to treat all reports of ritual abuse as false and to have a policy of not investigating or prosecuting these cases.

Mark Sauer, in his September 21, 2002, article, "Abuse or Unfounded Fear" in the San Diego Union-Tribune, reported that he interviewed the present District Attorney, Paul Pfingst. Sauer reports the following statements by Paul Pfingst:

1. Pfingst: "This theory [ritual abuse] was completely debunked in the early '90s".

2. Sauer: "District Attorney Paul Pfingst expressed grave concerns that a widely attended and influential conference would feature workshops on ritual abuse, since he has seen no evidence that such cases exists" (Re: two workshops on ritual abuse and therapy with survivors being included at a large Family Violence conference in San Diego on September 25 to 28, 2002.

3. Pfingst: "If someone wants to go back to teaching that satanic ritual abuse claptrap, we're going to have a serious discussion about whether law enforcement in San Diego should respond and expose it for what it is."

The copyright of the article Call for Policy to Increase Protection for Victims of Ritual Abuse in San Diego, Part I in Ritual Abuse is owned by Svali . Permission to republish Call for Policy to Increase Protection for Victims of Ritual Abuse in San Diego, Part I in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.