Satanic panic
| "Satanic panic" link (enemy image) | |
|---|---|
| A label used to suggest that the widespread reports of satanic child abuse should be dismissed per se. |
The "Satanic panic" is a label used to disparagingly refer to reports of satanism and child abuse.
Terminology
The term came to be used to describe the 1980s day care abuse scandal(s) in the US.
Ross Cheit's critique
The witch-hunt narrative is Ross Cheit's term for a widely repeated story that high-profile child sexual-abuse investigations and prosecutions of the 1980s were largely the product of a fabricated "satanic panic." In The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children (Oxford University Press, 2014), Cheit argues that this narrative over-generalises from a subset of flawed cases and understates corroborated abuse documented in court and clinical records.
Coverage on this wiki is limited to claim-level summary of Cheit's published argument and the primary case materials he cites. It is not an endorsement of every disputed prosecution, nor a venue for fringe conspiracy content.
Scope note
Related pages may cover specific investigations. Each factual claim should cite trial records, appellate opinions, or named scholarly sources.
Sources
- Ross E. Cheit, The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children (Oxford University Press, 2014).
- Contemporary news and appellate opinions for any individual case discussed in expansions.
See also
