quired that excess federal property be offered as
temporary, emergency sanctuaries for homeless peo-
ple, but seventeen months after Reagan signed the
law, only two federal sites had been so used. De-
spite difficulties in implementing it, the McKinney
Act, amended several times in subsequent years, re-
mained in effect as of 2008.
Further Reading
Alker, Joan.Unfinished Business: The Stewart B.
McKinney Homeless Assistance Act After Two Years.
New York: National Coalition for the Homeless,
1989.
Liff, Sharon R.No Place Else to Go: Homeless Mothers
and Their Children Living in an Urban Shelter.New
York: Routledge, 1996.
Car yn E. Neumann
See also Homelessness; Income and wages in the
United States; Reagan, Ronald; Reaganomics; Re-
cessions; Unemployment in the United States; Wel-
fare.
McMartin Preschool trials
The Event Seven preschool workers are tried for
sexually abusing their charges
Date 1987-1990
Place Manhattan Beach, California
The McMartin Preschool case set off a wave of hysteria in
the 1980’s, as parents—who were working longer hours
than ever to make ends meet—worried about the dangers of
leaving their children in the hands of strangers. When it
was later demonstrated that the allegations against the pre-
school’s staff were unfounded, the case raised a new set of
concerns over political manipulation of the justice system,
media sensationalism, and the appropriate level of credence
to give to young children’s testimony.
When Judy Johnson’s two-year-old son Matthew re-
turned home one day in 1983 from the McMartin
Preschool in Manhattan Beach, California, his bot-
tom appeared red, so she took him to a hospital
for an examination. Although hospital personnel
found no conclusive evidence of sexual molestation,
she filed a police report, charging Raymond Buckey,
grandson of McMartin Preschool owner Virginia
McMartin with sexual molestation, including bond-
age and rape. Police, after referring Johnson to
Children’s Institute International (CII) at the Uni-
versity of California, Los Angeles, began an investi-
gation of Buckey. They sent letters to the parents of
the other McMartin Preschool students to inquire
whether they had heard of any misconduct. Hysteria
ensued, and many parents, certain that horrible
things had occurred at the school, went to CII for
counseling.Politics and False Testimony Eager for a rallying is-
sue to focus his reelection campaign, Los Angeles
district attorney Robert Philibosian assigned the Mc-
Martin case to Assistant District Attorney Joan Matu-
sinka, whose specialty was sexual abuse of preschool-
ers, and to another assistant district attorney, Lael
Rubin, who handled the case in court. Matusinka
urged parents to see her friend at CII, social work
grantwriter Kee MacFarlane, who in turn intimi-
dated children into admitting falsely to abusive con-
duct by members of the preschool staff.
The case ultimately involved three full-time assis-
tant district attorneys, fourteen investigators from
the District Attorney’s Office, twenty-two task force
officers, two full-time and twenty part-time social
workers, and one full-time and four part-time detec-
tives. Investigators searched twenty-one residences,
seven businesses, three churches, two airports,
thirty-seven cars, and a farm. They found no con-
crete evidence to corroborate the wild allegations
made by 450 children, who accused teachers of
slaughtering horses, forcing children into hidden
tunnels, attending satanic rituals in locked churches,
and taking naked photographs. The media and the
prosecution, however, focused on these fantastic
charges without making any effort to verify them.
Nevertheless, the coerced confessions were referred
to a grand jury, which indicted the entire preschool
staff of seven on more than 150 counts. The district
attorney added more counts, bringing the total
to 208. After their arrest in 1984, bail was denied to
all the suspects except elderly Virginia McMartin,
when Rubin falsely alleged that the defendants
threatened the parents and children with harm.
Jailed pending trial, they were abused by prison
guards and prisoners.
Before the trial, evidence was presented at a nine-
teen-month preliminary hearing, the longest on rec-
ord. The defendants lost all of their assets paying
their defense lawyers’ fees. During the hearing, the
defense identified inconsistencies in the children’sThe Eighties in America McMartin Preschool trials 607