NCJ Number
136678
Journal
Behavioral Sciences and the Law Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Dated: special issue (Winter 1992) Pages: complete issue
Editor(s)
R M Wettstein
Date Published
1992
Length
140 pages
Annotation
Given the continued interaction between new religious movements and the law, this special issue of 10 articles addresses some of the current sociolegal and psycholegal concerns and advances in the area.
Abstract
The introductory article provides an overview of past interactions and new directions for new religious movements and the law. The second article illustrates that the interactions between new religious movements and the law have evolved from the seminal "deprogramming" cases to other concerns, such as the definition of conversion and the issue of expert testimony regarding conversions. Another article considers important forensic issues on the therapeutic aspects of cult involvement. This includes an analysis of various therapeutic approaches which may be used for dealing with child, juvenile, and adult former cult members. An article presents findings on the perceptions of both the general population and the institutional elite population toward new religious movements. The authors examine how these two populations view specific issues related to new religious movements and how these views are associated with current legal trends in the lower and appellate courts. Other articles examine problems that face new religious movements in jury trials, cult membership as a mitigating factor in death penalty cases, State laws that will facilitate the investigation of child abuse allegations that involve religious cults, coercive persuasion as used in the assessment of cults, Scientology, and the legality of alleged cult activities. Article references and tabular data