Child molestation is a significant matter of concern, especially in the case of involvement of daycare centers. Sometimes, similar instances become the ground of a nationwide hysteria. Commonwealth vs. Amirault is an appropriate example of the abovementioned statement. The case came to the attention of investigators when a five-year-old boy, one of those brought to Fells Acres Day Care Center, told his parents that the owner’s son touched the boy’s private parts. According to the handyman’s story, he was helping the boy to change his clothes because he wet himself while sleeping in the daytime. The parents decided to report to Malden authorities when they noticed that the child displayed signs of unusual behavior. Therefore, police officers urged other parents who gave their children to the same center to study kids’ behavior and ask them about any strange developments, thus collecting reports of abuse in the daycare facility such as rape, taking naked photographs, and drinking urine (Crosson-Tower, 2015).
The investigative process was lengthy and strenuous. In addition to the time-consuming collection of parents’ reports, it included fifteen court hearings, as well as appeals and re-trials. They began in the 1980s, while the last court was held in 2004 (Crosson-Tower, 2015). During this time, numerous decisions were made. For instance, according to the initial court ruling, all three defendants – Violet Amirault, Gerald Amirault, and Cheryl Amirault – were sentenced to 8 to 40 years in prison. Violet Amirault, the owner of the daycare center, was accused of abusing eighteen children and condemned to twenty years in prison. Her daughter, Cheryl, was found guilty of ten instances of child abuse and sentenced to eight-year confinement. Finally, Violet’s son, Gerald, was accused of abusing nineteen children and adjudged to forty-year custody (Crosson-Tower, 2015). Nevertheless, all of them were found innocent and released later: Violet and Cheryl in 1995 and Gerald in 2004 (Crosson-Tower, 2015). As for the daycare center, it was closed (Commonwealth vs. Amirault, n.d.).
The solution is often criticized because it is based on testimonies of children aged from three to six years. Furthermore, they were interviewed in the courtroom where the defendants were present as well (Crosson-Tower, 2015). In this way, the sentence is questioned, as well as the comprehensiveness of interrogations, especially due to the subsequent release of the defendants. Still, it had a significant psychological impact on everyone involved in the case. As mentioned above, panic swept the community because parents grew hyper-vigilant and were afraid to take their children to daycare centers. As for children, they felt common consequences of sexual abuse, including shame, allegiance to an offender, anxiety, and embarrassment (Levinson, 2002). Moreover, they experienced severe stress caused by both abuse and continual interrogations (Michie, 2013). Finally, as for the defendants, this case, most likely, caused embarrassment and mental discomfort due to excess publicity and closing the daycare facility.
In conclusion, it is essential to mention that there are several takeaways related to this case. First and foremost, it pointed to the criticality of physical evidence. The case taught that children should be interrogated in the courtroom only if no physical evidence is available. Still, before interviewing them in one room with a perpetrator, vast work should be done before, including consultations with social workers and psychologists. In addition, it is critical to bear in mind that interrogations should be conducted in a game form to obtain accurate information and diminish the risks of psychological trauma, which was ignored in the case under consideration (O’Donohue & Levensky, 2004).
References
Commonwealth vs. Amirault. (n.d.). Web.
Crosson-Tower, C. (2015). Confronting child and adolescent sexual abuse. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Levinson, D. (2002). Encyclopedia of crime and punishment. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Michie, J. (2013). Reader’s guide to social sciences. New York, NY: Routledge.
O’Donohue, W. T., & Levensky, E. R. (2004). Handbook of forensic psychology: Resource for mental health and legal professionals. San Diego, CA: Elsevier.