--- title: "4 Denial Quotes By Ross Cheit" description: "4 Denial quotes by Ross Cheit. Plus more from Ross Cheit and more Denial sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d8d/ross-cheit-50134_abuse_the-witch-hunt-narrative-is-a-really-pop_567045.jpg" --- > [“The witch-hunt narrative is a really popular story that goes like this: Lots of people were falsely convicted of child sexual abuse…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-cheit/the-witch-hunt-narrative-is-a-really-popular-story-that-goes-like/) [Ross Cheit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-cheit/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d8d/ross-cheit-50134_abuse_the-witch-hunt-narrative-is-a-really-pop_567045.jpg) > [“For all this talk about us being a nation at war with child abuse, and for all the media hype about witch-hunts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-cheit/for-all-this-talk-about-us-being-a-nation-at-war-with-child-abuse-and/) [Ross Cheit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-cheit/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/695/ross-cheit-50134_allegations_for-all-this-talk-about-us-being-a-natio_1321374.jpg) > [“interview from Ross E. Cheit about The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children (Oxford University Press, February 2014).…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-cheit/interview-from-ross-e-cheit-about-the-witch-hunt-narrative-politics/) [Ross Cheit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-cheit/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/482/ross-cheit-50134_books_interview-from-ross-e-cheit-about-the-wi_1450899.jpg) > [“The Legend of Robert Halsey This article examines the criminal conviction of Robert Halsey for sexually abusing two young boys on his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-cheit/the-legend-of-robert-halsey-this-article-examines-the-criminal/) [Ross Cheit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-cheit/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/78c/ross-cheit-50134_abuse_the-legend-of-robert-halsey-this-article_2799849.jpg) ## Other authors on Denial - [Shannon L. Alder 14 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/shannon-l-alder/) - [Craig D. Lounsbrough 14 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/craig-d-lounsbrough/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b019/author-oscar-wilde-72846.jpg) Oscar Wilde 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/oscar-wilde/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b016/author-mahatma-gandhi-62675.jpg) Mahatma Gandhi 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/mahatma-gandhi/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-david-heinemeier-hansson-27552.jpg) Michael Salter 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/michael-salter/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b009/author-eve-ensler-34301.jpg) Eve Ensler 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/eve-ensler/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b013/author-john-bradshaw-51026.jpg) John Bradshaw 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/john-bradshaw/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-brandon-steiner-19212.jpg) Graciela Chichilnisky 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/graciela-chichilnisky/) - [Colin A. Ross 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/colin-a-ross/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b007/author-chuck-palahniuk-24118.jpg) Chuck Palahniuk 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/chuck-palahniuk/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b006/author-charles-bradlaugh-22157.jpg) Charles Bradlaugh 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/charles-bradlaugh/) - [Carolyn Spring 5 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/carolyn-spring/) ## More by Ross Cheit > [“The book argues that even though many cases have been held up as classic examples of modern American “witch hunts,” none of them fits…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-cheit/the-book-argues-that-even-though-many-cases-have-been-held-up-as/) [Ross Cheit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-cheit/) > [“The witch-hunt narrative is a really popular story that goes like this: Lots of people were falsely convicted of child sexual abuse in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-cheit/the-witch-hunt-narrative-is-a-really-popular-story-that-goes-like/) [Ross Cheit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-cheit/) > [“For all this talk about us being a nation at war with child abuse, and for all the media hype about witch-hunts and false…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-cheit/for-all-this-talk-about-us-being-a-nation-at-war-with-child-abuse-and/) [Ross Cheit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-cheit/) > [“interview from Ross E. Cheit about The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children (Oxford University Press, February 2014). In the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-cheit/interview-from-ross-e-cheit-about-the-witch-hunt-narrative-politics/) [Ross Cheit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-cheit/) > [“An undergraduate researching the "witch hunt" cases asked for evidence that there had been more than one hundred cases, noting that the major lists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-cheit/an-undergraduate-researching-the-witch-hunt-cases-asked-for-evidence/) [Ross Cheit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-cheit/) > [“The Legend of Robert Halsey This article examines the criminal conviction of Robert Halsey for sexually abusing two young boys on his school-van route…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-cheit/the-legend-of-robert-halsey-this-article-examines-the-criminal/) [Ross Cheit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-cheit/) > [“The witch-hunt narrative is now the conventional wisdom about these cases. That view is so widely endorsed and firmly entrenched that so widely endorsed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-cheit/the-witch-hunt-narrative-is-now-the-conventional-wisdom-about-these/) [Ross Cheit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ross-cheit/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/ross-cheit/#itemlist", "name": "4 Denial Quotes By Ross Cheit", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The witch-hunt narrative is a really popular story that goes like this: Lots of people were falsely convicted of child sexual abuse in the 1980s and early 1990s. And they were all victims of a witch-hunt. It just doesn’t happen to line up with the facts when you actually look at the cases themselves in detail. But it’s a really popular narrative — I think it’s absolutely fair to say that’s the conventional wisdom. It’s what most people now think is the uncontested truth, and those cases had no basis in fact. And what 15 years of painstaking trial court research (says) is that that’s not a very fair description of those cases, and in fact many of those cases had substantial evidence of abuse. The witch-hunt narrative is that these were all gross injustices to the defendant. In fact, what it looks like in retrospect is the injustices were much more often to children.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ross Cheit" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-cheit/the-witch-hunt-narrative-is-a-really-popular-story-that-goes-like/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d8d/ross-cheit-50134_abuse_the-witch-hunt-narrative-is-a-really-pop_567045.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d8d/ross-cheit-50134_abuse_the-witch-hunt-narrative-is-a-really-pop_567045.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d8d/ross-cheit-50134_abuse_the-witch-hunt-narrative-is-a-really-pop_567045.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The witch-hunt narrative is a really popular story that goes like this: Lots of people were falsely…” — Ross Cheit", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“For all this talk about us being a nation at war with child abuse, and for all the media hype about witch-hunts and false allegations — and don't ever let anyone use the word witch-hunts about this; there were no witches — the fact remains that in 1994, it is extremely difficult to come forward with allegations of sexual abuse. And the external forces of denial are almost overwhelming. If a case as verified as mine meets with denial, I dread to think about the experience of people who don't have the kind of corroboration that I do. And I really worry that we're getting close to a point where it's going to be impossible to prosecute child molesters, because we don't believe children, and now we don't believe adults. (Cheit \"Paper presented at the Mississippi Statewide Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect\" Jackson, April 29 1994.)”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ross Cheit" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-cheit/for-all-this-talk-about-us-being-a-nation-at-war-with-child-abuse-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/695/ross-cheit-50134_allegations_for-all-this-talk-about-us-being-a-natio_1321374.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/695/ross-cheit-50134_allegations_for-all-this-talk-about-us-being-a-natio_1321374.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/695/ross-cheit-50134_allegations_for-all-this-talk-about-us-being-a-natio_1321374.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“For all this talk about us being a nation at war with child abuse, and for all the media hype about…” — Ross Cheit", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“interview from Ross E. Cheit about The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children (Oxford University Press, February 2014). In the foreword to your book you mention a book titled Satan’s Silence was the catalyst for your research. Tell us about that. Cheit: Debbie Nathan and Michael Snedeker solidified the witch-hunt narrative in their 1995 book, Satan’s Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt, which included some of these cases. I was initially skeptical of the book’s argument for personal reasons. It seemed implausible to me that we had overreacted to child abuse because everything in my own personal history said we hadn’t. When I read the book closely, my skepticism increased. Satan’s Silence has been widely reviewed as meticulously researched. As someone with legal training, I looked for how many citations referred to the trial transcripts. The answer was almost none. Readers were also persuaded by long list of [presumably innocent] convicted sex offenders to whom they dedicated the book. If I’m dedicating a book to fifty-four people, all of whom I think have been falsely convicted, I’m going to mention every one of these cases somewhere in the book. Most weren’t mentioned at all beyond that dedication. The witch-hunt narrative is so sparsely documented that it’s shocking.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ross Cheit" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-cheit/interview-from-ross-e-cheit-about-the-witch-hunt-narrative-politics/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/482/ross-cheit-50134_books_interview-from-ross-e-cheit-about-the-wi_1450899.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/482/ross-cheit-50134_books_interview-from-ross-e-cheit-about-the-wi_1450899.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/482/ross-cheit-50134_books_interview-from-ross-e-cheit-about-the-wi_1450899.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“interview from Ross E. Cheit about The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of…” — Ross Cheit", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The Legend of Robert Halsey This article examines the criminal conviction of Robert Halsey for sexually abusing two young boys on his school-van route near Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Mr. Halsey's name has been invoked by academics, journalists, and activists as the victim of the “witch hunt” in this country over child sexual abuse. Based on a comprehensive examination of the trial transcript, this article details the overwhelming evidence of guilt against Mr. Halsey. The credulous acceptance of the “false conviction” legend about Robert Halsey provides a case study in the techniques and tactics used to minimize and deny sexual abuse, while promoting a narrative about “ritual abuse” and “witch hunts” that apparently requires little or no factual basis. The second part of this article analyzes how the erroneous “false conviction” narrative about Robert Halsey was constructed and how it gained widespread acceptance. The Legend of Robert Halsey provides a cautionary tale about how easy it is to wrap even the guiltiest person in a cloak of righteous “witch hunt” claims. Cases identified as “false convictions” by defense lawyers and political activists deserve far greater scrutiny from the media and the public. journal: Cheit, Ross E. \"The Legend of Robert Halsey.\" Journal of child sexual abuse 9.3-4 (2002): 37-52.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ross Cheit" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ross-cheit/the-legend-of-robert-halsey-this-article-examines-the-criminal/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/78c/ross-cheit-50134_abuse_the-legend-of-robert-halsey-this-article_2799849.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/78c/ross-cheit-50134_abuse_the-legend-of-robert-halsey-this-article_2799849.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/78c/ross-cheit-50134_abuse_the-legend-of-robert-halsey-this-article_2799849.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The Legend of Robert Halsey This article examines the criminal conviction of Robert Halsey for sexually…” — Ross Cheit", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/ross-cheit/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/ross-cheit/", "name": "Denial Quotes by Ross Cheit", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/ross-cheit/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d8d/ross-cheit-50134_abuse_the-witch-hunt-narrative-is-a-really-pop_567045.jpg" }, "description": "4 Denial quotes by Ross Cheit. Plus more from Ross Cheit and more Denial sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/ross-cheit/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/ross-cheit/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Denial", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Ross Cheit", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/denial/ross-cheit/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```