The Kern County child abuse case was the first prominent instance of accusations of ritualized sex abuse of children. In 1982 in Kern County, California, Debbie and Alvin McCuan were accused of abusing their own children. The initial charges were made by Mary Ann Barbour, the children's step-grandmother, who had a history of mental illness. Coercive interviewing techniques were used by the authorities to elicit disclosures of parental sexual abuse from the children. In 1982, the girls also accused McCuan's defense witnesses: Scott Kniffen, his wife Brenda, and his mother. Mary Ann Barbour reported that the children had been used for prostitution and child pornography, tortured, and forced to watch snuff films.

Information

Kern County child-abuse cases

1982

Legal Results

In 1984, all of the McCuans and the Kniffens was sentenced to over 240 years in prison. Their convictions were overturned in 1996.