June 9th 2010: Convicted in first degree, acquitted on appeal overturned sentence for two parents from Modena accused of abusing their four children. ibid. television news
‘They made me kill little kids’ [child] … How did they come to tell those stories? Who talked to them? How did they talk to them? Veleno: The Town of Lost Children IV
It was impressive to discover how this story, which at first seemed like a strange unique provincial story was actually part of a gigantic phenomenon. It was a recurring theme … Around the United States there sprung up like mushrooms cases that had similar elements. ibid.
How can a child tell such a story while laughing and joking? ibid.
None of them [children and adoptive parents] had any doubts. They all believed that the truth had come out from the trial. ibid.
I saw violence in that [therapist] attitude … Depending on the terms you use in your question, you risk influencing the answer. ibid.
It is disputed that the methods of empathic listening which do not take into account the potential presence of suggestions are dangerous because they risk creating false memories and accusations. ibid.
‘Honestly, I’m not even sure any more what happened or didn’t happen. They took me away when I saw little. So many therapists also try to make you say what they want you to say. ibid. Dario’s interview
So we understand that we are dealing with a young man who for 20 years of his life believed he had killed children he never killed. ibid.
An entire community had suddenly awakened from its slumber. ibid.
Among the 16 removed children, there is one [Simona] who never accused her parents. Alessia had contacted her via Facebook but she never replied. However, I had spoken to her mother Daniela. And her story struck me very much because she had never been involved in any of the trials and yet she had never been able to get her daughter back home. Veleno: The Town of Lost Children V
Police officers secretly recorded conversations between psychologists and children at a centre in Bibbiano called Centro La Cura which is run by the Hansel and Gretel Study Centre. ibid.
Every family has bad memories. The Godfather III 1990 starring Al Pacino & Andy Garcia & Diane Keaton & Talia Shire & Sofia Coppola & George Hamilton & Bridget Fonda et al, director Francis Ford Coppola, Michael to son
They are all dealing with different types of dementia: a set of diseases that will attack their brain-cells and get worse over time. Dementia & Us I, sufferer, BBC 2021
DNA has now exonerated more than 250 men. 60 Minutes: Eyewitness Testimony II ***** CBS 2009
Over 75% of these innocent men were convicted in part because an eye-witness fingered the wrong person. ibid.
At the heart of the problem is the fragility of memory … Memory is not like a video-tape recorder; you don’t just record an event and play it back. Instead memory is malleable, full of holes, easily contaminated and susceptible to suggestion. ibid.
In all the cases where eye-witnesses were wrong, the real perpetrator was not in the initial line-up. ibid.
When the real guy isn’t there, witnesses tend to pick the person most like him. ibid.
Ronald Cotton and Bobby Poole [rape case] look very much alike. ibid.
Eye-witness testimony has two key properties: one, it’s often unreliable, and two, it is highly persuasive to jurors. ibid.
A reinforcement alters memory. Dramatically. ibid.
In the vast majority of places there has been no reform. ibid.
Memory has always been really the cornerstone of the criminal justice system. The Innocence Files s1e6: The Witness III: Making Memory, legal lady
Between 1982 and 1983 Richmond would see a spike in violent crime; between 1983 and 1984 the murder rate in Richmond rises by 22%. ibid. Historian
I parked in the back parking lot behind the church, entered in a door that went down a long hallway, turned on the lights … I heard a sound … I saw a black male walking down the hallway with a knife in his hand … He began to take my clothes off and he attacked me … ibid. rape victim
There is a pattern of five separate crimes. ibid. legal lady
Five women identified Thomas [Haynesworth] as the attacker. ibid.
I was more convinced that ever that he was an innocent man. ibid. brief
He was convicted of three rapes and he was sentenced to a total of 74 years. ibid.
What are the odds of five women being wrong? ibid. Thomas
After Thomas was arrested there was another series of rapes. ibid. Man
Leon Davis was convicted of rape, robbery and malicious wounding. He was sentenced to four life terms plus 100 years in prison. ibid. captions