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    • Why the Menendez Brothers abuse allegations are resurfacing
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    Why the Menendez Brothers abuse allegations are resurfacing

    Vaseline Posted on

    The Menendez brothers and their lawyers stand in the courtroom, dressed in suits and ties.
    Lyle Menendez, second from left, and his brother Erik, second from right, are flanked by their attorneys in Beverly Hills Municipal Court the year they shot their parents. AP Photo/Nick Ut

    A professor at Northeastern University says the case of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who are serving life sentences for the 1989 shooting deaths of their wealthy parents, points to a major societal shift in the way male victims of childhood sexual abuse are treated. seen – and believed.

    Around the time they were convicted of first-degree murder for the slayings of Jose and Kitty Menendez, the young men were ridiculed in newspaper columns, talk shows and even on “Saturday Night Live” as being motivated by greed.

    But 28 years after their conviction, family members are calling for the brothers’ release. They say they were driven to despair by long-term sexual abuse by their father, a well-known entertainment industry executive.

    Carlos Cuevas, a northeastern criminology and criminal justice professor, said that in the decades since Menendez’s conviction, there has been increasing recognition that childhood sexual abuse affects both boys and girls.

    Tens of thousands of victims

    “As time has gone on, there has been more openness about talking about abuse in general and especially about abuse of boys,” says Cuevas.

    Eyes have also been opened by investigations and lawsuits into the involvement of powerful institutions in covering up the abuse of boys and young men, with the Boston Globe’s 2002 Spotlight series on the Catholic Church’s cover-up winning a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

    In recent years, the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America have paid billions of dollars to settle decades-long cases involving tens of thousands of victims who were abused as boys and young men by priests and Scout leaders.

    “The Catholic Church scandal probably brought this more to the fore,” Cuevas says. “But it’s actually been a kind of gradual process,” starting in the 1980s, of recognizing that childhood sexual abuse, including the victimization of boys, is a real problem, he says.

    Portrait of Carlos Cuevas.
    “False accusations are very rare, so believing (victims), supporting them and keeping them safe are the things you need to do,” said Carlos Cuevas, professor of criminology and criminal justice. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University

    The consequences of childhood sexual abuse

    “But under certain circumstances it’s still kind of minimized in a way that I don’t think it’s minimized if the victim is a girl or a woman,” Cuevas says, adding that this may be due to the greater number of girls and women affected . through sexual abuse.

    According to RAINN, an organization that advocates for victims, one in nine girls and one in twenty boys under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse or assault.

    Whether the survivor is male or female, the consequences of sexual violence can be serious, including post-traumatic stress disorder, mood disorders, depression, anxiety and substance abuse, Cuevas says.

    Survivors may also struggle with dissociative disorders, self-harm and panic attacks, says RAINN.

    The effects are typical of “the kinds of things you see in individuals who have survived sexual abuse,” Cuevas says. “And they can be especially exacerbated if they are not believed and supported.”

    Extreme physical retaliation or killing is rare, he says. “Most victims of abuse do not kill their abusers. It is not a common phenomenon.”

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    Victims… and murderers

    Cuevas says what complicates the Menendez case in the popular imagination is that the brothers perpetuated a heinous crime, shooting their parents while the couple watched TV in the study of their mansion.

    “People have a tendency to label you. You are either a victim or a perpetrator,” he says, adding that in reality you can be both.

    “Many people who commit offenses and crimes are also victims of abuse or other forms of victimization,” Cuevas said.

    “It’s very difficult for people to understand the context around it, which is that they have committed a serious crime but have also been a victim of abuse.”

    Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were 21 and 18 respectively at the time of the murders, may get a chance to tell their side of the story again in court as their cases are reviewed for possible prosecution by the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office County. George Gascón after the emergence of new evidence.

    As time has gone by, there has been more openness about talking about abuse in general and abuse of boys in particular.

    Carlos Cuevasprofessor of criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern

    The evidence includes a letter allegedly written by Erik Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano, referencing the abuse months before the murders occurred, as well as allegations from a member of the boy band Menudo, Roy Rossello, that he was abused by Jose Menendez when he was 14.

    During the brothers’ first trials — one for each brother — their cousin Diane Vander Molen testified that when she stayed at the Menendez home as a teenager, 8-year-old Lyle told her that his father was molesting him.

    Vander Molen testified that she told Kitty, but never heard if anything came of the boy’s revelation. The trials ended in a hung jury.

    During the second trial, which ended with a life sentence in 1996, the prosecutor claimed that the abuse did not occur and that the judge did not allow much evidence of the assault to be presented, according to lawyers.

    The fear factor

    Even now, some people — including Kitty Menendez’s brother, Milton Andersen — do not believe the brothers were abused or that they feared for their lives if they went public with the abuse allegations.

    Sexual abuse and physical abuse are ways to control victims and can create lasting fear, especially if it starts when victims are young, Cuevas says.

    A family member has said he witnessed Jose Menendez hitting the brothers with a belt, as well as other strange behavior. But even the mere threat of violence can sow terror, Cuevas says. “It says, ‘Look how bad it can be. Look what I can do. ”

    “You’re already afraid of (the perpetrators) because they’ve been doing this for a long time,” he says. “Just because you’re older and bigger doesn’t necessarily mean the fear isn’t still there.”

    Where was mom?

    The Menendez case has been the subject of a recent fictional series, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” and the documentary “The Menendez Brothers,” both on Netflix.

    One question viewers consistently ask is why the brothers’ mother, Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, didn’t intervene to stop the alleged abuse.

    It’s a common question in family abuse cases, Cuevas says.

    He says the abuser’s partner may fear violent retaliation or may simply be in denial.

    “There’s an aspect of, ‘It happened on your watch and you didn’t protect your children.’ It’s especially hard when your identity as a parent is being a good parent and taking care of your children,” Cuevas says. “Something very terrible happened to your children and you failed to protect them and keep them safe.”

    Support those who make it public

    People who expose child sexual abuse within families – whether they are victims themselves or witnesses – often feel responsible for the breakdown of a family, Cuevas says.

    He says he tells people in his consulting practice, “The problem isn’t that you’ve opened the can of worms. The problem is, who put the worms in there in the first place? The problem isn’t what you said; it is what they did.”

    Regardless of who makes the disclosure, the process is “incredibly taxing and difficult” on an emotional level, Cuevas says.

    Victims and witnesses need to know they can trust an adult who will take their accusations or suspicions seriously, he says.

    “False accusations are very rare, so the best choice is to believe them, support them and keep them safe,” Cuevas said.

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