Offender
Profiling Series: Vol 2
Profiling
in Policy and Practice
Edited by David Canter & Laurence Alison (1999)
back to Profiling
in Policy and Practice
Profiling in Policy and Practice
Ray Aldridge-Morris
False Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse
Controversy has always surrounded the area of child
sexual abuse. Over the last decade in particular extraordinary allegations,
including serial sexual satanic abuse have been made that whilst having
no substantive evidence to back their claims have resulted, on some
occasions in securing convictions. The following outlines some examples
of these cases as well as highlighting how advocates of the claims have
argued their case. Many of their beliefs rest on a poor understanding
of memory and are little more than verbal legerdemain. In contrast the
chapter outlines research on memory that suggests "repression"
and spontaneous memory of previously forgotten serial sexual abusive
events are a very unlikely phenomena. The lack of validation for any
of the claims or memory-related phenomena such as repression that they
are packaged with suggests a far more sceptical outlook upon such fantastical
allegations should be strongly promoted.
Ray Aldridge-Morris trained
as a clinical psychologist at the University of Liverpool from 1962-1967.
He went on to take his doctorate at the Institute of Psychiatry under
Hans Eysenck and was the first head of psychology at which is now Middlesex
University from 1970 to 1983. His book "Multiple Personality: an
Exercise in Deception" (1989, reprinted 1991) is a sceptical treatment
of MPD which received many favourable reviews. It has led to further
sceptical critiques of applied phenomena not least "false memory
syndrome" and the practices of recovered memory therapists. He
is a founder member of the scientific advisory board of the British
False Memory Society. Ray currently Team with the Hackney and City Community
NHS Trust.
