Buckeys Case Study

1008 Words3 Pages

According to Stop Abusive and Violent Environments; in 2010, 2.98 million American children underwent a Child Protective Service Investigation for an allegation of child abuse or neglect. It has been estimated that 2-10% of all child abuse claims are believed to be false. In the 1980s the McMartin family was accused and charged with numerous sexual abuse acts of children who were in their care at their family daycare center. The McMartin preschool trial went on for over six years and millions of taxpayer dollars were spent. The excessive amount of money spent on a trail could have easily been avoided. The investigation into this case was careless and sloppy. The overzealousness of the persecution along with their personal biases mixed in with the vulnerability of the children were all elements that contributed to the demise of this case. The lack of evidence was a key …show more content…

The fact that the case dealt with children made most people a lot more passionate about this case. No one was interested in the truth, the children’s words were bond. Whatever the children said on the stand, the public took and ran. Whatever happened to the concept innocent until proven guilty? To everyone the Buckeys were guilty and it seemed as if they were an easy target. No one cared about their lives and how much this case could ruin it. The media designed the story to bring the Buckeys down and they knew they would get away with it because the public was very gullible when it came to cases such as this one. Even after the trail was over and it was proven that the Buckeys were not guilty due to lack of evidence, the public still stuck with their original beliefs. This demonstrations how much of an impact the media could have on an issue. The media did not allow anyone to form an opinion of their own and they didn’t want to see the Buckeys for who they really

Open Document