The Friedmans

Memory is a subject to be dealt with delicately, especially when dealing with children. They are fragile and can be manipulated very easily. In the case of Arnold and Jesse Friedman the fragility of children’s memories is the only thing to prove innocence or guilt.

Arnold Friedman was arrested for receiving child pornography. On a raid of his house, among the dozens of other magazines and pictures in his office, the police found a roster for the computer class Arnie and his son Jesse were teaching in their basement. The police questioned every child on that list to see if they had been touched by either of the two teachers. Neither the children nor the parents knew what they were talking about until the police talked to the children alone. They would tell them what happened and ask them things like, “Isn’t that right?” and “You can tell us. It’s okay. We know what happened to you.” If a child is asked a closed-ended question, they will likely give the answer the person asking them would like to hear. Children only want to please. Some children admitted later on to saying yes because they wanted the police to go away. Some children said it was real and they were really molested, but the memory was repressed and the only way it was found was through hypnosis.

Hypnosis is an extremely risky thing to do to a child to find a memory. It can result in false memory implantation and make the child believe anything, even if it did not happen. One child’s memory from being hypnotized led to 36 counts of sodomy. Arnold was accused of over 260 counts and took a plea from the prosecutors for his wife, who did not want him to go to trial.

After Arnold was sentenced, the People went after Jesse. Jesse’s lawyer, Peter Panero, said Jesse had confided in him that