Ross E. Cheit is a Professor of Political Science and Professor of International and Public Affairs at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

’s

Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs The Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs is an interdisciplinary research center at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Its mission is to promote a just and peaceful world through research, teaching, and public engagement ...

''The Witch Hunt Narrative''

Himself a victim of child sexual abuse, Cheit is interested in the issue of repressed memory vis-a-vis childhood sexual abuse in cases like McMartin and the

Catholic Church sexual abuse cases There have been many cases of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, nuns, Popes and other members of religious life. In the 20th and 21st centuries, the cases have involved many allegations, investigations, trials, convictions, ac ...

and put out his theories in the book ''The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children.'' Cheit argues that some of those accused in alleged

day-care sex-abuse hysteria Day-care sex-abuse hysteria was a moral panic that occurred primarily during the 1980s and early 1990s, and featured charges against day-care providers accused of committing several forms of child abuse, including Satanic ritual abuse. The collec ...

cases, including the

Country Walk case The Country Walk case is a Florida 1985 "Multi-Victim, Multi-Offender" child sex abuse case that occurred during the day-care sex-abuse hysteria. Frank Fuster remains imprisoned, making him the last perpetrator in this moral panic. His wife Ilean ...

, the

McMartin preschool trial The McMartin preschool trial was a day care sexual abuse case in the 1980s, prosecuted by the Los Angeles District Attorney Ira Reiner. Members of the McMartin family, who operated a preschool in Manhattan Beach, California, were charged with hu ...

, and the

Oak Hill satanic ritual abuse trial The Oak Hill satanic ritual abuse trial occurred in Oak Hill, Austin, Texas, in 1991 when Fran Keller and her husband Dan, proprietors of a small day care, were accused of repeatedly and sadistically abusing several children. The Kellers were conv ...

, were actually guilty. (The district attorney declared the Oak Hill defendants "actually innocent", so they were compensated for their imprisonment.) James M. Wood,

Debbie Nathan Debbie Nathan (born 1950) is an American feminist journalist and writer, with a focus on cultural and criminal justice issues concerning abuse of children, particularly accusations of satanic ritual abuse in schools and child care institutions. S ...

, Richard Beck, and Keith Hampton criticize that Cheit's work "has omitted or mischaracterized important facts or ignored relevant scientific information" and "is often factually inaccurate and tends to make strong assertions without integrating relevant scholarly and scientific information."

KC Johnson Robert David Johnson (born 27 November 1967), also known as KC Johnson, is an American history professor at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center. He played a major role in reporting on the Duke University lacrosse ...

writes "Even as heit'sbook gives every benefit of the doubt to the investigators and prosecutors ... much of Cheit’s evidence nonetheless portrays the prosecutions as massive miscarriages of justice."

Biography

Cheit graduated from

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

(1977, political economy and a coordinate major in environmental studies) before earning a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree and PhD in public policy at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. Before working for Duane, Lyman, and Seltzer, Cheit clerked for Justice Hans Linde of the Oregon Supreme Court. He joined the faculty at Brown in 1987. For fifteen years, Cheit was a member of the

Rhode Island Ethics Commission Rhode may refer to: *In Greek mythology: :*Rhodos, goddess and personification of the island of Rhodes :*Rhode, one of the fifty daughters of Danaus * ''Rhode'' (spider), a genus of spiders *Rhode (surname) *Rhode, County Offaly, an Irish town *Rh ...

, including eight years as chairman.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheit, Ross Living people Brown University faculty Williams College alumni UC Berkeley School of Law alumni Goldman School of Public Policy alumni American social sciences writers California lawyers Year of birth missing (living people)