This twofold quest led members into extreme behaviors that involved the physical abuse of their children. We reconstruct and analyze the trajectory of the BCW and show how it evolved from an expanding, youthful, and dynamic church-like group seeking social integration to a cult-like group whose members seemingly followed the leader blindly into social isolation and a quest for purity and perfection. In this article, we analyze the complex relation between the Baptist Church of Windsor (BCW), which is a religious group based in Canada, and the law, which led to peaceful and sucessful state intervention. Finally, issues raised concerning the process of victimization of the children and the choice of intervention by social-control agencies are discussed. The group’s trajectory from its origin to its dissolution is presented and described with an emphasis on the role played by the leader and on the group’s struggles with the law and with social-control agencies. An exhaustive analysis of documents, testimonies of former members, and interviews with key participants point to the leader as having played an important role in the group’s evolution. I, iiÉcole de criminologie, Université de Montréal, iiiInfo-Cult/Info-Secteīased on a case study, this article presents the evolution of the Baptist church of Windsor toward an authoritarian and cult-type functioning wherein, isolated from their social environment, members resorted to severe child physical abuse. Dianne Casoni,i Adriana Pacheco,ii Mike Kropveldiii

Burn Daughters by Adriana Law