Ritual Abuse Statistics

Again, we run into the problem of having little to no records that show statistics of ritual abuse . Strange that we have somewhat accurate records of sexual abuse, physical abuse, etc., but no statistics of even cases of ritual abuse. Just following the research I could find concerning statistics, we will discuss possible reasons for the lack of available information and statistics.

Incidence & Prevalence:

A single survivor advocate reports direct contact with more than 3,000 survivors. [ StarDancer as quoted by David McCulley, Satanic Ritual Abuse: A Question of Memory, 1993] CORRECTION: During Personal conversation with StarDancer for update and verification, she stated, "I would feel comfortable saying I’ve met or spoken with more than 1,000 people who identify themselves as
survivors…Our estimate of the people who have read and used
Survivorship is 3,000."

I talked to one of the leaders in the Los Angeles County Task Force on
Ritual Abuse, who estimate that there have been more than a hundred
California preschools implicated in ritual abuse. [James Friesen,
Uncovering the Mystery of MPD, 1991]

Among 2,709 members of the American Psychological Association who
responded to a poll, 2,292 cases of ritual abuse were reported.
[Bottoms, Shaver, & Goodman, 1993]

At a 1991 Utah workshop, thirty-two mental health therapists reported
treating 360 separate survivors of ritual abuse. By early 1992 the
following statement had been signed by sixty-six Utah therapists: "We,
the undersigned mental health professional, have each heard memories
of ritual abuse recounted by some patients, as have therapists across
the nation. We believe these patients’ allegations to have basis in
fact. We are dismayed by accusations that therapists brainwash their
patients or collude to create a mental health problem where none
existed. We urge our public officials to take appropriate actions to
counter ritual crimes." The names on the signed petition, affirming
the above statement, are given in the 1992 report of the Utah
Governor’s Task Force on Ritual Abuse. [A. Horton, B. Harrison & B.
Johnson, editors, Confronting Abuse, 1993]

Of the sixty victims with whom I have met, fifty-three are female and
seven are male. Eight are children. The abuse occurred in the
following places: Utah (37), Idaho (3), California (4), Mexico (2),
and other places (14). Fifty-three victims are currently living in the
state of Utah . All sixty individuals are members of the Church. Forty-
five victims allege witnessing and/or participating in human
sacrifice. The majority were abused by relatives, often their parents.
All have developed psychological problems and most have been diagnosed
as having multiple personality disorder or some other form of
dissociative disorder. [Bishop Glenn L. Pace, " LDS Church Report to
the Strengthening Church Members Committee," 1990]

In 1992 alone, Childhelp USA logged 1,741 calls pertaining to ritual
abuse, Monarch Resources of Los Angeles logged approximately 5,000,
Real Active Survivors tallied nearly 3,600, Justus Unlimited of
Colorado received almost 7,000, and Looking Up of Maine handled around
6,000. Even allowing for some of these calls to have been made by
people who assist survivors but are not themselves survivors, and for
some survivors to have called more than one helpline or made multiple
calls to the same helpline, these numbers suggest that at a minimum
there must be tens of thousands of survivors of ritual abuse in the
United States. [Catherine Gould, Cultural and Economic Barriers to
Protecting Children from Ritual Abuse and Mind Control, 1995]

Published results of a nationwide study of substantiated reports of
sexual abuse in day care involving 1,639 young child victims. Thirteen
percent of these cases were found to involve ritual abuse. [Finkelhor,
William and Burns, 1988] An ‘ad hoc’ study on Ritual Abuse in Germany
done by Ulla Fröhling, journalist and author of "Vater unser in der
Hoelle" - "Our father which art in hell" - called the "first in-depth
German study of a DID-patient with a background of severe home abuse,
child prostitution, and sadistic ritual abuse;" and Michaela Huber in
1997. They sent 355 questionnaires throughout Germany , 126 returned
and 113 have been evaluated. Every 'maybe' or 'perhaps' was excluded,
which led to a total of 354 cases in treatment -- 299 in current
treatment – of Ritual Abuse in Germany. These patients or clients were
treated at 61 locations in Germany . [Thorsten Becker, "Ritual Abuse:
A German Cult-Counsellors Perspective," Presentation at the Symposium
on Psychic Trauma and Dissociation, Utrecht [ Netherlands ], October
28. 1999]

In 1993, Boon and Draijer described the clinical phenomena of 71 Dutch
DID patients. Follow up data on this cohort of patients indicate that
38.8% of the patients (N = < 27) had mentioned some form of SRA in the
course of treatment (Boon & Draijer, 1993b). These patients lived in
different regions in the Netherlands and they were treated by 19
different clinicians (Boon and Draijer 1993b). In this study,
spontaneously given accounts of SRA and drawings on the subject showed
a striking resemblance to those of North American patients (cf Young
et al. 1991). [Onno van der Hart, "Reports on Ritual Abuse in European
Countries: A Clinician’s Perspective," 1998]

A

survey done in June 2000, at the National Victim Assistance Academy
in Fresno , CA , 82 questionnaires given out, 44 criminal justice
professionals responded to the questions, "Have you or a co-worker
ever worked with a client/victim that claimed to be a victim of
satanic ritual abuse?" Seventeen, 38% of respondents, had worked with
clients who claimed to be victims of satanic ritual abuse or had co-
workers who had worked with these clients. [Dawn Mattox, Butte
County , CA , District Attorney’s Office, 2000]

In Europe , Great Britain is the country wherein most reports on SRA
of children are being made. The National Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is alarmed about the increasing number of
cases coming to its attention. Towns and areas mentioned are Hull ,
Surrey , Wolverhampton , Telford , Portsmouth , Manchester , and
Shrewsbury , among others (Bartlett 1989; Tate 1991). Reports of SRA
are typically made by social workers involved in ordinary child abuse
cases or by foster parents of child victims of sexual and physical
abuse. Within the context of an enduring relationship with an adult
whom these children trust, they disclose information that, when
recognized as such, points to SRA. Typically, children's reports
include adults carrying candles, wearing robes and masks or dressing
up as clowns, and chanting; children being defecated on, forced to eat
body wastes, locked in cages or boxes, or sexually abused on crosses
or inside stars and circles; drinking blood; sacrificing animals;
torturing, killing, and consuming babies; being filmed by cameras with
lights on; using drugs; and adults threatening children in order to
discourage disclosure. Tate (1991), who examined a number of these
British cases and compared them to North American and Dutch cases
(Hudson 1991; Jonker and Jonker-Bakker 1991; Snow and Sorenson 1990),
was struck by the similarities. Because many of these children
reported SRA without attending adults encouraging them, Tate concluded
that either there exists a worldwide conspiracy among toddlers or the
children are speaking the truth. [Onno van der Hart, "Reports on
Ritual Abuse in European Countries: A Clinician’s Perspective," 1998]
It is very telling that in every case in which the symptomatology of
the ritually abused children was compared to the symptomatology of the
sexually abused children, the ritually abused children showed
considerably more symptoms of trauma…Not only do ritually abused
children appear more disturbed than sexually abused children on the
traditional instruments like the Achenbach, they also demonstrate
symptoms which relate in direct and obvious ways to the abuse
experiences they describe. [Catherine Gould, Cultural and Economic
Barriers to Protecting Children from Ritual Abuse and Mind Control,
1995] From these first few reported cases the symptoms characteristic
of childhood multiple personality begin to emerge and reveal some
marked differences when compared to adults. In the childhood form of
multiple personality the difference between personalities are quite
subtle. In addition the number of personalities is fewer. So far an
average of 4 (range 2-6) personalities have been reported in children,
while the average number of personalities reported in adults is about
13 (range 2 to 100+). Symptoms of depression and somatic complaints
are less common in children but the symptoms of amnesia and inner
voices are not decreased. Perhaps most importantly, the therapy of
children with multiple personality is usually brief and marked by
steady improvement. In adults therapy may last anywhere from 2 to over
10 years, while in children therapy may only last a few months.
Philip Coons, Child Abuse and Multiple Personality Disorder]

Why the lack of statistical records of ritual child abuse?

First, abusive groups have a very large stake in remaining undetected, and they keep their secrets well. Second, abusive groups terrorize their victims into silence. And third, society as a whole does not want to believe that its norms and laws have been so blatantly and extremely violated, so society turns its back in denial. ra-info.org Copyright © 1997-2006

In all States and Canadian provinces, there are laws against particular physical acts committed during ritual abuse. These include murder, rape, sexual contact with children, kidnapping, assault and battery, cruelty to animals, vandalism, and defilement of corpses. Other countries have laws against most, if not all, of these actions. In some States, additional penalties can be imposed if it can be proved that the criminal act was motivated by hate of a particular group.

Ritual abuse can also lead to secondary crimes, such as income tax evasion, crossing state boundaries or using the mail to commit a crime, money laundering, prostitution, pimping and pandering, creation, distribution and possession of child pornography, selling and possession of illegal drugs, and conspiracy to commit crimes.

In addition, four states have passed laws against the ritual abuse of children, specifying particular acts or simulations of acts that are common in ritual abuse. They are written in such a way that no group’s freedom of religion is attacked. These states are: Illinois, Idaho, Texas, and Louisiana. Massachusetts and Florida are working on legislation against ritual child abuse. California and Utah are establishing ritual abuse task forces. ra-info.org Copyright © 1997-2006

Police and prosecutors often believe that these cases cannot be successfully prosecuted because juries will discount all evidence once any testimony about religion, ideology, or conspiracy has been introduced. In fact, many juries have found defendants not guilty on the basis of witnesses not being credible.

Many people believe that there have been no convictions for abuse involving rituals. This is not true: convictions have been obtained in many states (OR, NC, TX, NV, FL, IA, NJ) and foreign countries. Statements that no convictions have been obtained, or that convictions are based on hysteria and a “witch hunt mentality” are disinformation tactics. ra-info.org Copyright © 1997-2006

Fatalities Caused by Ritual Abuse

As you will see from the following statistics, it is nearly impossible to say what and how many fatalities there have been that can positively be attributed to ritual abuse. As you will read in other sections, children may be kidnapped, born within the group (having no birth certificate), etc. There is simply no way to definitely designate how many fatalities of ritual abuse, although we can attribute some reported within the child abuse fatalities statistics. That, however, gives us nothing to go on within the focus of this article.