Against Satanic Panics > Recent cases



Recent criminal cases and accusations
Commentary and links to other sites

by Diane Vera



Copyright © 2006 by Diane Vera. All rights reserved.



The "Satanic Ritual Abuse" (SRA) scare of the 1980's and early 1990's, complete with "recovered memories" and childcare center pedophilia witchhunts, is not likely to return in full force, at least here in the U.S.A. In any future anti-Satanist witchhunts involving accusations against innocent people, the accused will more likely be adherents of unpopular religions or subcultures, whereas most of the accused in the 1980-1995 SRA scare were ordinary mainstream folks. But some 1980's-style SRA cases are occurring these days, too.

On this page I'll list not only cases in which I think the accused may be innocent, but also cases in which the accused may well be guilty, but in which the media are playing up a "Satanism" angle (or an "occult" angle, or a "dark" subculture angle, e.g. Goth) in a manner that could likely trigger a witchhunt.

Below are links to pages of information on particular cases. I've listed them in chronological order, most recent cases last.

For some general commentary on those cases involving actual crimes by people who identify as Satanists, see Tabloid prophecy fulfillers:  Satanism's real-life criminal fringe - How should law-abiding Satanists respond?

If you are a scholar or journalist, please see also To scholars and journalists: Topics of timely interest.



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