Editing Janet Reno (section)

==== Child abuse prosecutions ====
{{further|Country Walk case}}
During Reno's tenure as state attorney, she began what the [[PBS]] series ''[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]]'' described as a "crusade" against accused [[child abuse]]rs.<ref name="Frontline">{{cite video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icw3AkvkbWE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/icw3AkvkbWE |archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live |transcript=Transcript |transcript-url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/fuster/etc/script.html |title=Frontline episode "Did Daddy Do It" |publisher=[[PBS]] |date=April 25, 2002}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Reno pioneered the "Miami Method",<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/fuster/etc/miami.html |title=The Miami Method of Prosecuting Child Abuse Cases {{pipe}} Did Daddy do It {{pipe}} FRONTLINE {{pipe}} PBS |publisher=PBS |access-date=February 24, 2020 |archive-date=August 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802054946/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/fuster/etc/miami.html |url-status=live }}</ref> "a controversial technique for eliciting intimate details from young children and inspired passage of a law allowing them to testify by closed-circuit television, out of the possibly intimidating presence of their suspected molesters."<ref name="Answers">{{cite news |title=Editorial: Reno owes the public answers |date=April 28, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120731040915/http://www.sptimes.com/2002/04/28/Perspective/Reno_owes_the_public_.shtml |archive-date=July 31, 2012 |newspaper=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2002/04/28/reno-owes-the-public-answers/}}</ref> [[Bobby Fijnje]], "a 14-year-old boy, was acquitted after his attorneys discredited the children's persistent interrogations by a [[psychologist]] who called herself the 'yucky secrets doctor'."<ref name="Answers"/><ref name=spi98/> [[Grant Snowden]] was acquitted, retried, convicted,<ref name=ph96/> and eventually freed by a federal appeals court after 12 years in prison."<ref name=wsj96/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB887932355301364500|title=Reno Overturned|date=February 20, 1998|via=www.wsj.com|newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030428110802/http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a101792.htm |archive-date=April 28, 2003}}</ref>

Reno's "model case" was against [[Frank Fuster]], co-owner of the Country Walk Babysitting Service in a suburb of Miami, Florida.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-11-23-bk-12359-story.html |title=Unspeakable Acts by Jan Hollingsworth (Congdon & Weed: $17.95; 581 pp.) |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=November 23, 1986 |access-date=May 15, 2020 |archive-date=August 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801230432/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-11-23-bk-12359-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1984, he was found guilty of 14 counts of abuse<ref name="Collins">{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DEFDC163DF937A25751C1A960948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print |title=Nightmare in Country Walk |last=Collins |first=Glen |date=December 14, 1986 |work=The New York Times |access-date=July 1, 2008}}</ref> and sentenced to prison with a minimum of 165 years.<ref name=dn/> Fuster was convicted based in large part on the testimony of his 18-year-old wife, Ileana Flores, who pleaded guilty and testified against him,<ref name="Answers" /><ref name=na93/> after allegedly being tortured.<ref name=kw>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/10/kavanaugh-confirmation-battle-mass-hysteria-roots/ |title=The Road to Waco |website=[[National Review]] |date=October 4, 2018 |access-date=April 6, 2020 |archive-date=June 7, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607203548/https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/10/kavanaugh-confirmation-battle-mass-hysteria-roots/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In a 2002 episode of ''[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]]'', Flores maintained that she and her ex-husband were innocent,<ref name=tbt/> and that Reno personally pressured her to confess.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/fuster/interviews/ileana.html|title=Interviews – Ileana Flores {{pipe}} Did Daddy Do It {{pipe}} FRONTLINE {{pipe}} PBS|website=www.pbs.org|access-date=March 17, 2020|archive-date=August 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802060733/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/fuster/interviews/ileana.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The number and timing of Reno's visits are in dispute.<ref name=dn>{{cite web|url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/the-public-was-shocked-country-walk-parents-demanded-action-an-election-was-near-janet-reno-was-going-to-send-someone-to-jail-no-matter-what-6364629|title=The public was shocked. Country Walk parents demanded action. An election was near. Janet Reno was going to send someone to jail. No matter what.|first=Debbie|last=Nathan|author-link=Debbie Nathan|date=March 3, 1993|website=Miami New Times|access-date=March 13, 2020|archive-date=April 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200401041805/https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/the-public-was-shocked-country-walk-parents-demanded-action-an-election-was-near-janet-reno-was-going-to-send-someone-to-jail-no-matter-what-6364629|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=ipt/> {{As of|2020|post=,}} Fuster remains imprisoned.<ref name=kw/>

In 1989, as Florida state attorney, Reno pressed adult charges against 13-year-old [[Bobby Fijnje]], who was accused of sexually molesting 21 children in his care during church services. The charges were driven by the testimony of children interviewed by mental-health professionals using techniques later discredited.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/terror/interviews/ceci.html |title=Interviews – Dr. Stephen Ceci {{pipe}} The Child Terror |work=Frontline |publisher=PBS |access-date=January 29, 2015 |archive-date=June 12, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150612101734/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/terror/interviews/ceci.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume10/j10_br20.htm |title=Book Review – 'Witch Hunt: A True Story of Social Hysteria and Abused Justice' |work=IPT Journal |date=April 15, 2014 |access-date=January 29, 2015 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924040015/http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume10/j10_br20.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Fijnje refused plea-bargain offers.<ref name=mnt/><ref name=Fijnje/> During the trial, the prosecution was unable to present any witnesses to the alleged abuse. After two years of investigation and trial, Fijnje was acquitted of all charges.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/terror/cases/fijnjeinterview.html |title=Bobby Fijnje – Interview {{pipe}} The Child Terror |work=Frontline |publisher=PBS |date=May 5, 1991 |access-date=January 29, 2015 |archive-date=May 30, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530025235/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/terror/cases/fijnjeinterview.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/terror/cases/fijnjeletter.html |title=Bobby Fijnje – Fijnje Jury's Letter To Janet Reno {{pipe}} The Child Terror |work=Frontline |publisher=PBS |date=May 9, 1991 |access-date=January 29, 2015 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924162514/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/terror/cases/fijnjeletter.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

When Reno was nominated for attorney general in the [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|Clinton administration]], ''[[the Nation]]''<ref name=na93>{{cite magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513034656/https://www.skepticfiles.org/rumor/j-renotn.htm |archive-date=May 13, 2008 |author-link=Alexander Cockburn |first=Alexander |last=Cockburn |title=Janet Reno's Coerced Confession |magazine=[[The Nation]] |date=March 8, 1993 |pages=296–297 |url=https://ncrj.org/_fuster/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/CockburnBeatTheDevil.pdf |url-status=live }} [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!search/%22Janet$20Reno$27s$20Coerced$20Confession%22/misc.activism.progressive/cr1XmhTkYPs/86oJLevHrusJ Alt URL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215234906/https://groups.google.com/forum/#!search/%22Janet$20Reno$27s$20Coerced$20Confession%22/misc.activism.progressive/cr1XmhTkYPs/86oJLevHrusJ |date=February 15, 2018 }}</ref> and ''[[Miami New Times]]''<ref name=dn/><ref name=mnt>{{cite web|url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/reno-reconsidered-part-b-6364430|title=Reno Reconsidered (Part B)|first=Steven|last=Almond|date=March 3, 1993|website=Miami New Times|access-date=November 16, 2019|archive-date=November 3, 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041103063834/http://www.miaminewtimes.com/Issues/1993-03-03/news/feature.html|url-status=live}}</ref> raised questions about her handling of these cases, [[Debbie Nathan]]'s journal article<ref name=ipt>{{cite journal |url=http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume5/j5_1_1.htm |title=Revisiting Country Walk |website=IPT Journal |date=1993 |first=Debbie |last=Nathan |author-link=Debbie Nathan |access-date=May 13, 2020 |archive-date=July 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200717100504/http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume5/j5_1_1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> was faxed to the White House, and Fijnje's father (a Dutch diplomat) "sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee".<ref name=Fijnje>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031004201601/http://www.ags.uci.edu/~dehill/witchhunt/ccla/pages/fijnje.htm|author=B. Fijnje|year=1993 |title=Open Letter to the American People |archive-date=October 4, 2003 |url=https://totseans.com/totse/en/politics/political_spew/reno.html}}</ref><ref name=ruhw>{{cite journal |last1=Underwager |first1=Ralph |author1-link=Ralph Underwager |last2=Wakefield |first2=Hollida |title=Untying the Gordian Knot: A Return to Reason |url=http://www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume6/j6_4_1.htm |journal=IPT Journal |volume=6 |number=4 |year=1994 |access-date=May 13, 2020 |archive-date=July 19, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040719224359/http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Embassy/9062/Commentary.txt |url-status=live }}</ref> However, Reno was not directly questioned about them.<ref name=ph96>{{cite magazine |last=Rosenthal |first=Robert |title=Janet Reno's Child Abuse |url=https://fathersmanifesto.net/renorosn.htm |magazine=[[Penthouse (magazine)|Penthouse]] |date=1996 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961221010134/http://www.penthousemag.com/magazine/p05may/05reno.html |archive-date=December 21, 1996}}</ref><ref name=wsj01>{{cite news |title=Confirmation Chronicles |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB979868348425004615 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=January 19, 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030724214122/http://www.opinionjournal.com/medialog/?id=85000460 |archive-date=July 24, 2003}}</ref> When she was asked in 2002, Reno said that she lacked the time to review the [[Country Walk case]] files.<ref name="Frontline"/><ref name=tbt>{{cite web |title=Frontline' airs allegations against Reno |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2002/04/25/frontline-airs-allegations-against-reno/ |website=Tampa Bay Times |access-date=March 16, 2020 |archive-date=August 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802080944/https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2002/04/25/frontline-airs-allegations-against-reno/ |url-status=live }}</ref>