1 .The Witch Hunt: allegations going terribly wrong

In the sixteenth and seventeenth century witch-hunts plagued many countries of Europe and destroyed millions of lives. It is easy to think that those things do not happen in our 'civilised' world, let alone in Co-Counselling. Though it is true that in our judicial and court systems many preventive measures are taken to prevent miscarriage of justice, witch-hunts still happen on a smaller or bigger scale. The McCarthy witch-hunts in the USA against presumed communists happened not that long ago, while in the UK at least one criminal case a year is squashed because of miscarriage of justice. The recent with-hunt on US president Clinton is another example.

A witch-hunt is a social dynamic process that still can happen on a small, more informal scale or a big organised scale.

A witch hunt is a social process involving many players: the people accused, the people who 'know' the accused first or second hand, the official witch hunter or hunters and a moral institution, in those days the Church.