Consequences of Scapegoating

Many at the time saw the satanic claims and accusations as silly; Many parents saw the music, rock and metal alike, as loud, annoying, even vulgar, but not corrupting. Many, but certainly not all. Occult and satanic paranoia grew rampant in communities. Many factors could have contributed to these attitudes; for instance, crime rates were at an all-time high, the country was in an economic depression, spirits were low after the Vietnam war, and people needed a new, clear evil to fight against (Baddeley). Whatever the case, this paranoia had dire consequences for hard rock and metal fans and rebellious mis-fits alike.

One such group of victims came to be known as the West Memphis Three. In this case, three teenagers were convicted of killing three eight-year-old boys in the Mississippi River town of West Memphis in 1993. Damien Echols was eighteen at the time; he was sentenced to death. Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. were sixteen and seventeen years old when they were charged with the murders, and both were sentenced to life in prison (Stidham et al).

All three teens were considered outcasts by members of the town. Echols and Baldwin were the “emo” kids, who liked to wear black and listen to Metallica among other heavy metal music (Adkins, 15). Especially with the Echols family being one of the poorest in town, the two friends were easy targets for the crime. This combined with Misskelley’s undiagnosed mental disability created a guilty-until-proven-innocent scenario. The entire prosecution was based on the sensational claim that the defendants had killed the children as part of a “satanic” or “occult” ritual. Despite the jury’s’ findings of guilt, the prosecution had little to support the “occult-ritual” motive and offered little to no other evidence of guilt aside from circumstantial evidence and testimonies proven later to be fabricated (Stidham et al).

Years later, after learning of this injustice, and with especially close ties to music, performers assembled in Little Rock, Arkansas to call public attention to the case. The event featured well-known celebrities like Eddie Vedder, Patti Smith, and Johnny Depp (Leveritt). The three’s case was brought back into court by the Innocence Project, and the men were released in 2011, eighteen years after their conviction.

This example, and others like it, show how music can have a massive impact on public opinion, which in turn affects nearly all facets of society, from popular culture, to religious fervor, to the judicial system.