From: levine@symcom.math.uiuc.edu (Lenore Levine)
Subject: Re: Repressed Memories, Ruined Lives
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 17:00:49 GMT

noraa@cbnewsk.cb.att.com (aaron.l.hoffmeyer) writes:

>In article <1992Oct15.033758.20465@netcom.com> sheaffer@netcom.com (Robert Sheaffer) writes:
>>        Also  in  that same issue of the San Jose Mercury  News,  in  the 
>>        magazine  supplement "WEST": An article, "The Accused,"  by  Mark 
>>        MacNamara,  about  a  couple jailed for  child  abuse  on  highly 
>>        dubious  evidence.  Bill  and Kathleen Swan seem  to  be  a  very 
>>        typical,  church-going, middle-class American couple. However,  a 
>>        day  care  worker who had prviously been fired from  several  day 
>>        care  centers because of an apparent obsession with child  abuse, 
>>        interpreted  (on  her  first full day  of  employment  there)  an 
>>        ambiguous  statement by the Swan's 3 1/2 year-old daughter as  an 
>>        indication  of  sexual  abuse by her parents,  and  called  Child 
>>        Protective  Services.  Despite  an  absolute  lack  of  any  real 
>>        evidence, the Swans were unable to prove themselves innocent, and 
>>        are now in prison.

>It wasn't that they were unable to prove themselves innocent.  No one
>proved them guilty but they were still convicted.  They are still in
>jail because they refuse to plea-bargain to a lesser charge.  They have
>asserted their complete innocence from day one--and virtually all the
>"evidence" that was used to convict them has been completely discredited
>and proved false.

>The Swan's have been in prison for 7 years.  Part of the "evidence" used
>to convict this couple was a statement from a male nurse who examined
>the daughter at age 3 1/2.  This male nurse testified that the girl's
>hymen was not intact.  About a year ago the girl was examined by a
>doctor who reported that her hymen was intact.  The hymen tissue doesn't
>regenerate.

>Also, the daycare worker who reported this abuse (on her first day on
>the job), had also just been released from a drug abuse clinic before
>she made the allegations (about a month earlier).  This person made
>statements to a reporter from 60 Minutes that she was 19 before she knew
>that not all parents have sex with their children and also stated that
>she had been raped by over 200 different men. (The woman is fat and
                                               ---------------------
>ugly.)
-------

>As far as I know, the Swans are still in prison - costing the taxpaying
>community $25k per year each.

>Aaron L. Hoffmeyer
>TR@CBNEA.ATT.COM 

Aaron, your comments about the Swans seem quite reasonable. 

Why did you spoil it by bringing up comments about the woman's weight?
How does her weight, in and of itself, destroy her credibility?

Suppose the woman were black, and were making these accusations about
white racist parents. Would you use the fact that she were black, in and
of itself, to question her veracity? (I think that if you were writing
about the Tawana Brawley case, you would word your comments about the
false accusations quite differently.) 

You also seem to be making some implications that having a nonstandard
appearance is a symptom of emotional instability? Is it? Is that what
you mean? Then come on out and tell us!

Lenore Levine

P.S. By the way, fat women, older women, unattractive women get raped
all the time. Believe me, it happens.

P.S.S. You have a good case about the Swans. *Don't spoil it.*