Resources:
Anna’s website, detailing her biography and work:
"Confessions of a Whistle-Blower: Lessons Learned."
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327019eb0802_2
"Accuracy of Expert Testimony in Child Sexual Abuse Cases: A Case Study of Ralph Underwager and Hollida Wakefield."
[link to original paper on underwager]
A formal ethics complaint with the APA was filed against Salter by Hollida Wakefield. “The Committee voted unanimously not to find [Salter] in violation of the Ethical Principles and to dismiss the complaint as entirely without merit.”
[Link to letter]
Citations:
-
"Accuracy of Expert Testimony in Child Sexual Abuse Cases: A Case Study of Ralph Underwager and Hollida Wakefield."
Anna Salter
Psychologist and Researcher
Imapct
Published the first significant piece of literature exposing Wakefield and Underwager’s misrepresentation of research concerning standard interview suggestibility. She was subsequently the subject of a harassment campaign by Underwager.
Bio
Anna Salter is a leading psychologist in America who received a small grant from the New England Association of Child Welfare Commissioners and Directors in 1988 to study claims that the standard procedures of interviewing children were suggestive, leading to false accusations. Upon receiving this grant, she used Ralph Underwager and his partner Hollida Wakefield as a case study, publishing a detailed review criticizing their “extraordinary number of distortions and errors.” [1] This was one of the first significant pieces of literature challenging Underwager's work. Shortly after, Underwager staged a harassment campaign against Salter, involving numerous lawsuits, an ethics charge, and phony phone calls. Throughout all this, Salter completed her work and published "Accuracy of Expert Testimony in Child Sexual Abuse Cases: A Case Study of Ralph Underwager and Hollida Wakefield." Her experience writing this work and the subsequent harassment campaign are detailed in her piece, "Confessions of a Whistle-Blower: Lessons Learned."
Since then, Anna Salter has written multiple books on trauma, childhood abuse, and sex offenders. Two notable books of hers include “Transforming Trauma: A Guide to Understanding and Treating Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse” and “Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists, and Other Sex Offenders.” She has given numerous trainings on sexual abuse throughout the country and abroad.