Crucible And Mcmartin Trials

Comparing the Crucible and the McMartin Trials

Two trials on opposite ends of the timeline of like that have much in common. Children are victims of child molestation and bewitchment of the Devil. Both cases children are manipulated by a greater evil causing mass Hysteria, Power of Accusers, and Power of Prosecution.

Hysteria controlled the trials of McMartin and Salem by fear of the unknown. In the McMartin trial the town had never before been faced with molestation. It was a new fear to the city. Again in Salem, the town had never encountered problems with witchcraft, talk of this were fables told to children to scare them, not something that was expected to attack the town personally. In both cases it caused people to have an uncontrolled fear of causing them to abandon all reason, in both cases spouses accusing each other, long life friends turning and pointing fingers at each other. Hysteria disrupted the reasoning minds of town members, for example in McMartin everyone was putting their trust in the hands of a paranoid schizophrenic mother with a biased opinion towards child molestation. In Salem the town was killing innocent people at the world of little girls accusing others of witchcraft, and "compacts with the Devil". Of course everyone suspected the truth was tampered, but it was a lonely road to disagree with the "Town".

In Salem and McMartin it is clearly evident that the children oversaw the trails. In McMartin even though the children were accusers, they were being manipulated by a higher authority, the media and parents. The interviewers would give the children rewards if the told the "right answers", such as," I was flushed down a toilet, taken to a place were I was repeatedly molested then sent back through the sewer system, cleaned up then sent home to my parents", or," I was made to ride naked on horses and have my picture taken". Of course these were outrageous accusations, but who would doubt a little innocent child? In Salem the girls were forced to accuse others of being "in compact with the Devil" because they knew the repercussions would be Abagail either accusing them of being with the devil or threatening to kill them in their sleep. So although the power of accusers was evident in both cases,