" In 1989, the Little Rascals Day Care in Edenton, North Carolina, was suddenly thrust into the national spotlight. One day, the owner's husband disciplined a boy at naptime, and soon an angry mother suggested that it was more than just a slap. Rumors quickly morphed into charges of unimaginable crimes against dozens of little children. Panic consumed the town, as the police, therapists, and parents relentlessly pressured the children who attended the day care to name their teachers responsible for multiple allegations of abuse. The Edenton Seven were caught up in the accusations, including nineteen-year-old teacher Robin Boles Byrum. She spent nearly a year in jail under an enormous bond meant to pressure her to "tell the truth" while she had a new baby at home. Eerily reminiscent of the hysteria that gripped Salem, Massachusetts, during the witch trials of the seventeenth century, the Little Rascals case ultimately became the longest and most expensive criminal trial in North Carolina history. Three decades later, Betsy Hester met Robin Byrum Couto and together, they joined forces to tell the truth. In this book, Betsy shares insights from legal and medical experts and reveals the facts from twenty-one boxes and bound testimonies from the courtroom long since buried away. Intertwined with the case history is Robin's never-before-told story of her harrowing journey through the court system. Finally, this book serves as a modern-day warning about the danger of mass hysteria and the consequences of a judicial system that blindly refused to hear and seek the truth. "

Throws light on the problem of what Shakespeare was doing between leaving school and appearing as an actor and playwright in London.

After a two-year investigation by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation, their report, Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse was released in April 2011. This is the most damning official report to date on Wall Street's role in the financial crisis. It describes the wheeling and dealing of bankers and others who benefited from the housing bubble while impoverishing the rest of America. It also offers four very clear causes of the financial crisis and, last but not least, it names culprits: - High risk mortgage loans by commercial banks were "the fuel that ignited the financial crisis" (describing the case study of Washington Mutual Bank, the sixth largest commercial bank at the time of its failure in September, 2008 ) - Failures by regulators "set the stage for mortgage loan losses that were a proximate cause of the financial crisis" (describing the case study of the Office of the Thrift Supervision, which was closed in 2010 and whose operations folded into the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency); - Inaccurate AAA credit ratings by the two largest credit rating agencies "constituted a key cause of the financial crisis" (describing Moody's and Standard & Poor's conflicts of interest while both had a quasi-monopoly position in the market for credit ratings); - Investment bank abuses: "The Investment banks that engineered, sold, traded, and profited from mortgage-related structured finance products were a major cause of the financial crisis" (describing case studies of Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank). This report and its detailed case studies are a must-read for policymakers, politicians, justice officials, bankers, journalists, academics and concerned citizens in order to understand what brought the economy to the brink of destruction. The U.S. SENATE PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS (PSI) is a bi-partisan team of senators that deals with Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and is currently headed by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK). Formerly known as the Committee on Government Operations, PSI is the oldest subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

A collection of Thomas J. Misuraca's published works of the 1990s, including 13 short stories and one poem. Some surreal, some silly, some scary, but all have a heart and a unique look at humanity. In these stories you'll meet talking gelatin molds, animated inflatable dolls and professional mourners. You'll witness menacing boxes, emotions for sale and uncontrollable printed words.

Is it true that the apple never falls far from the tree? Throughout history, you see examples where criminality seems to run in the family. From the Ptolemaic dynasty that terrorized Greek Egypt to the modern mafia, familial ties often dictate your relationship to violence, cruelty and the law. Evil Families examines just this, using case studies from across history. These include the Qing Dynasty of Ancient China, the cannibalistic Beane family in 15th century Scotland, the Stafflebacks of Kansas and the Messina brothers of London's West End. This book is about murder, madness, lust and ruthless ambition, as well as those devastating cases where family members gang up and cause harm other relatives. Everyone strives to protect their own family, but what cruelties are concealed by these bonds of blood?

This work is an important new edition of a classic study—one of the few exhaustive examinations of childhood sexual abuse available—with 40 percent new material. Even though it is as old as human history, child sexual abuse has generally remained a dark and well-hidden secret. Only in the last few decades has it become a topic of open public debate and scientific research, and we still have more questions than answers. How often are accusations of sexual abuse legitimate, and how often are they the result of false memories? Can sexual offenders be cured, or will they ultimately re-offend? These are only a few of the difficult questions this volume seeks to answer. Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Reference Handbook explores the many ways we define child sexual abuse in the United States and in different parts of the world and how those differences are represented in U.S. and international laws. It summarizes what we know about how to intervene, treat, and prevent childhood sexual abuse effectively and tells the stories of individuals who have had a dramatic effect on the handling of childhood sexual abuse. For students, social workers, teachers, policymakers, parents, and concerned citizens, this work offers a one-stop, multifaceted discussion of one of the major issues facing children and their families.