Mcmartin Day Care Abuse In The Crucible

The Crucible is a 1953 play written by Arthur Miller. It is amplified and somewhat novelized story of the Salem witch trials. Miller wrote the play as a parable to the McCarthyism persecution of communist sympathisers. In this play, a group of Puritan girls are found dancing and conjuring with the devil in the forest. Soon the whole village of Salem knows about the dancing and starts accusing people of witchcraft. Innocent people who are incriminated under improper evidence are hanged. Parallel in the McMartin day care abuse case, the McMartin family, who administrate the establishment, and other members are accused illegally of having abused sexually numerously of the children under their vigilance. The accusations used against the McMartin

The two main similarities were the outrageous accusations and mob mentality. The first main similarity was the outrageous accusations, where in The Crucible Abigail’s allegations are related with some accusations made by Judy Johnson. In both scenarios, the public depended on the children for instruction and whatever they said was taken as the truth. In the McMartin case, all the children refused that Johnson’s allegations were true. There is a quote that relates both trials: the public had to choose to trust one the accused or the accuser. Danforth: “Witchcraft is… an invisible crime, is not? Therefore who may possibly be witness to it? the witch and the victim.” The second similarity was the mob mentality. Mob mentality describes how people are influenced by their peers to accept certain behaviors, follow trends. In The Crucible the girls all followed Abby’s example and officials got involved well. In the McMartin parents and children started to follow Johnson’s example and make up stories about abuse. We also can see a lot of pressure between them both. In The Crucible many chose to admit and most of the time were pushed to give other names, meanwhile in the McMartin the police wanted parents to force answers out of their children don’t taking “no” for an answer. In both they made a lot of excuses, for example in The Crucible they said that the Putnams used witchcraft as an easy answer for the deaths of their children and to get land. In the McMartin they said that social workers, politicians, and priests used the allegation to their benefit to gain business and