Michigan Law Review Volume 80 Issue 2 1981 Cults, Deprogrammers, and the Necessity Defense Michigan Law Review Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr Part of the Criminal Law Commons, Family Law Commons, Law and Psychology Commons, and the Religion Law Commons Recommended Citation Michigan Law Review, Cults, Deprogrammers, and the Necessity Defense, 80 MICH. L. REV. 271 (1981). Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol80/iss2/5 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Michigan Law Review at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Michigan Law Review by an authorized editor of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. NOTES Cults, Deprogrammers, and the Necessity Defense As membership in religious "cults"1 has increased dramatically during the last decade,2 public concern for the welfare of cult mem bers, who are largely young adults,3 has also risen apace.4 As a re sult, many parents have taken drastic action to protect their children from these groups. Some parents have gained temporary legal con trol over their children, 5 but attempts to work within the legal system I. In Peterson v. Sorlien, 299 N.W.2d 123, 126 (Minn. 1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 1031 (1981), the Minnesota Supreme Court stated: "The word 'cult' is not used pejoratively but in its dictionary sense to describe an unorthodox system of belief characterized by '[g]reat or excessive devotion to some person, idea, or thing.'" (citing WEBSTER'S NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE UNABRIDGED 552 (1976)).