"THE CAPITAL LETTER"
A weekly review of administration,
legislation & law
24 TCL 42 (1128)
23 October 2001
THE CHRISTCHURCH CIVIC CRECHE CASE
The stand out feature of Lynley
Hood's book on the Christchurch Civic Creche case, A City Possessed, is not
her conclusion that after eight years of "dredging through the mire"
she "found no evidence of illegality by anyone accused in this case".
Rather, it is the way the book challenges the reader to examine how their
opinion of this case (and everyone it seems has one) may have been moulded by
the social belief structures of the day rather than the facts. Even those in
the sceptic category who found the evidence unconvincing (apparently including
many senior members of the legal profession) have no reason for smugness. For
this is not only a story of a moral panic but is a story of prejudices,
rivalries, empire building and the protection of vested interests throughout
the entire criminal justice system. In these questioning times, particularly
since last month's terrorist attacks in the United States, the message is not
merely discomforting, it is potentially destabilizing. Only someone outside the
justice system could have delivered it.
The subtitle of this 672 page book,
"Child Abuse, Gender Politics and the Law" shows that its coverage is
much wider than the creche case itself. The author revisits the 1970s to show
how "three major social streams - feminism, religious conservatism and the
child protection movement - joined forces under the banner of combatting child
sexual abuse". As the author astutely notes, "when confronted with
the impassioned rhetoric of energetic, committed and persistent moral
entrepreneurs, most people appreciate the price of peace in their personal
lives and, with varying degrees of willingness, they are prepared to pay
it". Such insights into human nature together with an underlying thread of
common sense draw the reader to the author's answer to the question of how
"the complainant families, the child protection services, the police, the
justice system and the government [got] it so wrong". Countering this
however, is that although the author makes her position clear at the outset
("those who believe that terrible things happened at the creche are
wrong") her emotive use of words to clearly mark out the
"goodies" and the "baddies" will make some readers feel
they should check up on the research references. Choices of pseudonyms for the
leading complainant parents (based on the names of trees) also have a negative
sting, for example, Ms Magnolia and Ms Dogwood. The impression gained that the
author has a tendency to minimise not only the occurrence of child sexual abuse
but its effect on victims will also jar with many.
The detailed account and analysis of
the evidence from first allegation to the final appeals and ministerial inquiry
is fascinating. Many of the key players will feel very hard done by indeed and
the police and sexual abuse counselling industry come off particularly badly.
That ACC $10,000 lump sum payments were apparently given to complainant
families as a matter of course is at least as alarming as passages dealing with
the possible contamination of the children's evidence. Refusal to confront the
issues raised in the book would not seem a viable option in today's climate. As
the author points out, "the justice system is sometimes unable to undo its
mistakes, and ... when people believe a miscarriage of justice has occurred,
they will not let the matter rest, no matter how many times the courts uphold
the guilty verdict".
Penny Pepperell
24 TCL 42 (1128)
Editors:
Jack Hodder, Penny Peperell
Ph: 04-472-4953, Fax: 04-472 7180
P.O Box 5351. Wellington
Publisher:
NZ Financial Press Ltd
Ph: 09-307-1287
C.P.O. Box 1881, Auckland
Subscriptions,
P.O. Box 1881,
Auckland
ISSN 0110-5655