How Child Witnesses Are Shaped: Cleverly

In New Jersey, Margaret Kelly Michaels was convicted in 1988 of 115 counts of sexual misconduct with 20 preschoolers. Michaels was accused, among other things, of licking peanut butter off children’s genitals, making the children drink her urine and eat her feces, and raping the children with knives, forks and toys. These shocking acts were said to have occurred during school hours over a period of seven months, although no adult had noticed them, no child had complained and none of the parents had noticed any symptoms or problems in their children.

Michaels was sentenced to 47 years in prison. After serving five years, she was released when an appeals court ruled that she had not received a fair trial because of the way the children were interrogated; the district attorney declined to retry her.

Here are some excerpts from a typical interview of one of the children, reported by Stephen Ceci and Maggie Bruck “Jeopardy in the Courtroom” (American Psychological Assn., 1995).

Social worker: Don’t be so unfriendly. I thought we were buddies last time.

Child: Nope, not any more.

Social worker: We have gotten a lot of other kids to help us since I last saw you. .J.J. Did we tell you that Kelly is in jail?

Child: Yes, my mother already told me.

Social worker: Did I tell you that this [the detective] is the guy that arrested her? .J.J. Well, we can get out of here quick if you just tell me what you told me the last time, when we met.

Child: I forgot.

Social worker: No, you didn’t. I know you didn’t.

Child: I did! I did! ...

Social worker: Oh, come on. We talked to a few more of your buddies. And everyone told me about the nap room, and the bathroom stuff, and the music room stuff, and the choir stuff, and the peanut butter stuff, and everything. ... All your buddies [talked]. ... Come on, do you want to help us out? Do you want to keep her in jail? I’ll let you hear your voice and play with the tape recorder. .J.J. Real quick, will you just tell me what happened with the wooden spoon? Let’s go.

Child: I forgot.

Detective: Now listen, you have to behave.

Social worker: Do you want me to tell him to behave? Are you going to be a good boy, huh? While you were here, did [the detective] show you his badge and his handcuffs? ... Back to what happened to you with the spoon. If you don’t remember words, maybe you can show me [with dolls].

In Massachusetts, the Amirault family has not been as lucky as Kelly Michaels. At their trial in 1986, some of their preschool’s children said they had been attacked by a robot, forced to eat a frog or were molested by clowns and lobsters. One boy said he had been tied naked to a tree in the schoolyard in front of all the teachers and children, although all the teachers denied it and no other child verified it. The Amiraults were convicted and sent to prison. In 1995, mother and daughter were released pending their appeal, which was denied March 24. A campaign has sprung up to seek a stay of their return to prison.

Here is an excerpt from interviews of some of the child witnesses by a pediatric nurse who sometimes used Bert and Ernie puppets to “aid” the children’s recall (from “Victims of Memory,” by Mark Pendergrast (Upper Access Press, 1996):

Nurse: Would you tell Ernie?

Child: No.

Nurse: Ah, come on [pleading tone]. Please tell Ernie. Please tell me. Please tell me. So we could help you. Please, .J.J. you whisper it to Ernie. ... Did anybody ever touch you right there [pointing to the vagina of a girl doll]?

Child: No.

Nurse: [pointing to the doll’s posterior] Did anybody touch your bum?

Child: No.

Nurse: Would you tell Bert?

Child: They didn’t touch me!

Nurse: Who didn’t touch you?

Child: Not my teacher, nobody.