Editing Satanic panic (section)

===Scholarly and law enforcement investigations===
Jeffrey Victor reviewed 67 rumors about SRA in the United States and Canada reported in newspapers or television and found no evidence supporting the existence of murderous satanic cults.{{sfn |Victor |1993 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/n357 330–354]}} LaFontaine states that cases of alleged SRA investigated in the United Kingdom were reviewed in detail and the majority were unsubstantiated; three were found to involve sexual abuse of children in the context of rituals, but none involved the [[Witches' Sabbath]] or devil worship that are characteristic of allegations of SRA.{{sfn |LaFontaine |1998 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JBxfvDeQdmoC&pg=PA11 11]}} LaFontaine also states that no material evidence has been forthcoming in allegations of SRA; no bones, bodies or blood, in either the United States or Britain.

Kenneth Lanning, an [[FBI]] expert in the investigation of child sexual abuse,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress02/heimbach050102.htm |title=Testimony of Michael J. Heimbach, Crimes Against Children Unit |last=Heimbach |first=MJ |date=2002-05-01 |publisher=United States Congress |access-date=2008-04-30 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061230100851/http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress02/heimbach050102.htm | archive-date = 2006-12-30}}</ref> has stated that pseudo-Satanism may exist but there is "little or no evidence for ... large-scale baby breeding, human sacrifice, and organized satanic conspiracies.":<ref name=Lanning/> <blockquote>There are many possible alternative answers to the question of why victims are alleging things that don't seem to be true. ... I believe that there is a middle ground—a continuum of possible activity. Some of what the victims allege may be true and accurate, some may be misperceived or distorted, some may be screened or symbolic, and some may be "contaminated" or false. The problem and challenge, especially for law enforcement, is to determine which is which. This can only be done through active investigation. I believe that the majority of victims alleging "ritual" abuse are in fact victims of some form of abuse or trauma.<ref name=Lanning/></blockquote>

Lanning produced a [[monograph]] in 1994 on SRA aimed at child protection authorities, which contained his opinion that despite hundreds of investigations no corroboration of SRA had been found. Following this report, several convictions based on SRA allegations were overturned and the defendants released.{{sfn |Nathan |Snedeker |1995 |p=230}}

Reported cases of SRA involve bizarre activities, some of which are impossible (like people flying),<ref name="Schreiber et al.">{{cite journal |last1=Schreiber |first1=Nadja |last2=Bellah |first2=Lisa D. |last3=Martinez |first3=Yolanda |last4=McLaurin |first4=Kristin A. |last5=Strok |first5=Renata |last6=Garven |first6=Sena |last7=Wood |first7=James M. |title=Suggestive Interviewing in the McMartin Preschool and Kelly Michaels Daycare Abuse Cases: A Case Study |journal=Social Influence |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=16–46 |year=2006 |url=http://digitalcommons.utep.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=james_wood |doi=10.1080/15534510500361739 |s2cid=2322397 |issn=1553-4529}}</ref> that makes the credibility of victims of child sexual abuse questionable. In cases where SRA is alleged to occur, Lanning describes common dynamics of the use of fear to control multiple young victims, the presence of multiple perpetrators and strange or ritualized behaviors, though allegations of crimes such as human sacrifice and cannibalism do not seem to be true. Lanning also suggests several reasons why adult victims may make allegations of SRA, including "pathological distortion, traumatic memory, normal childhood fears and fantasies, misperception, and confusion."<ref name="Lanning2">{{cite book|url=http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Search/Abstracts.aspx?id=159841&library=Publications_Lib&query=%26lt%3BRecordset%26gt%3B%26lt%3BLibrary%20name%3D%26quot%3BPublications_Lib%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%26lt%3BField%20name%3D%26quot%3BDOC_BODY%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%26lt%3BQuery%26gt%3B%26lt%3B%21%5BCDATA%5BLanning%5D%5D%26gt%3B%26lt%3B/Query%26gt%3B%26lt%3B/Field%26gt%3B%26lt%3BField%20name%3D%26quot%3Bis_full_text%26quot%3B%26gt%3B%26lt%3BQuery%26gt%3B%26lt%3B%21%5BCDATA%5BN%5D%5D%26gt%3B%26lt%3B/Query%26gt%3B%26lt%3B/Field%26gt%3B%26lt%3B/Library%26gt%3B%26lt%3B/Recordset%26gt%3B|title=Satanic Ritual Abuse of Children Is Not Widespread|last=Lanning|first=K|publisher=[[Greenhaven Press]], Inc|year=1994|editor=Bender D|series=Opposing Viewpoints Series|access-date=2008-04-29|editor2=Leone, B}}</ref>