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The
Christchurch Civic Creche Case |
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From:
David McLoughlin ([email protected]) Subject:
Re: HARD NEWS 21/11/97 Newsgroups:
nz.politics, nz.general Date:
1997/11/27 I have just been
reading some books by Lynda Morgan, who was one of the three specialist
services interviewers who interviewed the children in the Peter Ellis/Civic
creche case. Lynda appears to
have drawn on her creche experience to write a book for kids who have to give
evidence in court. The book is called "What Happens Next"
and was published in 1995 by the Youth Law Project. In this book,
she describes a verdict of guilty as meaning: "The jury is sure the law
has been broken." For "Not
guilty" she says: "The jury is not sure the law has been
broken." What ever
happened to "the jury is sure the law has not been broken" or
"the accused is innocent"? I must say, Doug Graham would like
Lynda's definition of "not guilty." For those with
an interest in the Civic case, Lynda has written a few other interesting
books too: Katie's Yukky
Problem (1986) Megan's
Secret (1987) Daniel and
His Therapist (1988) These are all
books about children "surviving" sexual abuse. "Megan's
Secret" carries the dedication 'Special thanks to Miriam Saphira, who
helped make it possible for us all to speak out'. Lynda founded
the Incest Survivors Group in 1982. All of which
goes to show that nobody could accuse Lynda of not having a great interest in
this topic when she was engaged to help to interview the Civic kids in 1992.
Does her interest make her a fitter person to conduct such interviews, or
suggest a bias? I can't decide, but I must say, I am worried about the
mindset which produces her definition of "not guilty." David McLoughlin Auckland New
Zealand |
