Penn State Child Molestation Scandal

Borla · Nov 21, 2011

I'm reading the Sports Illustrated article on this mess from this week's issue. So far it is pretty good.

Interesting side note for the argument some have had in the past couple weeks that maybe McQueary was shocked and/or afraid of stepping in. According to the SI article McQueary broke up a knife fight between football players in '08.

Alistair · Nov 21, 2011

Borla said: ↑

According to the SI article McQueary broke up a knife fight between football players in '08.
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Completely different kettle of fish, though.

Often, when people are faced with something they find embarrassing or difficult, they flee. I suspect he found the whole conflation of homosexuality and child abuse and person in power thing too much to take in.

However, his (in)actions after that were not a gut response, in my view. They were calculated.

Spiritsoar · Nov 23, 2011

This is an interesting article I read that was linked to me by a friend who works in the PA education system: In defense of Joe Paterno
The whole thing is worth reading, but I think this is the main part:

So, let's say you're Joe Paterno. ("You're Joe Paterno.") Graduate Assistant Mike McQueary comes to you distraught and tells you he has seen your former coach Jerry Sandusky do inappropriate things with a 10-year old boy in the shower. (Precisely what McQueary told Paterno is disputed.) You've known Sandusky for at least 30 years, probably been friends with him that long. Assume for the sake of argument he never had a problem of this sort with Sandusky (which is not necessarily accurate, as I will explain below.) Sandusky founded the Second Mile, an agency that helps at-risk youth.

You know that if this is made public, regardless of the truth, Sandusky will be utterly destroyed. Second Mile may be destroyed as well.

Since Sandusky is no longer your coach, he is no longer under your jurisdiction, but under the jurisdiction of the athletic director, yet you have immense influence over the athletic department, even though the director is ostensibly your superior.

Keep in mind that you only have your assistant's statement of the incident. You did not witness the incident and have not witnessed any such conduct yourself.

Keep in mind, too, that you are not law enforcement, you are not a lawyer, you are not a social worker, you are not a child psychologist. You are a football coach. A very good football coach.

What do you do?

My guess is that Joe Paterno had a second question in mind, one that the media is missing right now: what if Sandusky is innocent?

Paterno immediately told his boss, Athletic Director Tim Curley, who has the actual institutional authority over Sandusky. As has been pointed out ad infinitum, that was all that Paterno was legally required to do.

According to the presentment, about a week and a half later, Curley and University Vice President Gary Schultz, who has authority over the Penn State University Police, met with McQueary and said they would look into it. You, Joe Paterno, were not at this meeting, but you were told about it.

Later, McQueary was told that Sandusky's keys to the locker room were taken away, he was prohibited from bringing children onto campus, and Second Mile was notified. At some point, you, Joe Paterno, are told about this. You are told nothing else. You hear nothing else. You witness nothing else.

Now what do you do?

You had told your boss, who has access to the investigative, legal and PR expertise that you do not. You, Joe Paterno, are a football coach.

Your boss can look at the legal ramifications -- university liability for any misconduct on campus, whether alleging Sandusky did anything risks a defamation suit, whether the university can legally sever its relationship with Sandusky. You cannot. You are a football coach.

And your boss brought in the guy who runs the University Police. The University Police has the legal authority and the expertise to investigate such matters. They can find the truth. You cannot. You know what McQueary told you, but you don't know what happened. Could McQueary have been mistaken? After all, this was one incident.

You are later told that Sandusky's keys were taken away, he was prohibited from bringing children on campus and that Second Mile was informed. What does that mean? What happened? What did they find? Was Penn State just limiting its liability? Enforcing a violation of policy?

You, Joe Paterno, have been told nothing else of the investigation. But is that really unusual? Is that even a bad thing? Protecting the children is important, but not at the expense of an innocent man. If the investigation got out, even if Sandusky is innocent he would be destroyed. It's not like the Penn State could announce, "After an extensive investigation, we have found that Jerry Sandusky did not commit sexuual assault on a minor." Like that would make everyone feel better. It had to be kept quiet until and unless there was something really bad.

And if it had been somthing really bad, you would have heard something or been told. You haven't. If it had been something really bad, there would be criminal charges. There were none.

So, now what do you do? Follow up? That's what the media says now. But exactly how would you do that? Check in on how the investigation is going? How exactly would it look to have Jerry Sandusky's very influential friend of 30 years to be "checking" on an investigation of him? Can you say "appearance of impropriety?" Your intent may be the most honest and conscientious, but that's not how it would look, especially if Sandusky was exonerated. That is no small matter. The media would crucify you, Sandusky and the university. No, you need to stay as far away from the university investigation as possible, for the best interests of all involved, including the children.

Should you call the police yourself? You, with possibly the most widely recognized face -- and voice -- in Pennsylvania? You call and they'll recognize you, even if you call anonymously. And the story will get out, because it always does (as it did now). And it will be, "Joe Paterno called the police to report sexual assault of a minor." Well, on whom was he reporting? That road leads back to Sandusky. And even if he's innocent, he's destroyed.
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Keep in mind, I haven't researched the whole story a lot, I don't follow football at all, and I just hear about things because I'm from Pennsylvania and have several friends who work in some way related to education. I just think it's odd that a whole bunch of people jumped to crucify the "football icon" instead of the alleged perpetrator and the people who were actually legally responsible to act.

Hektore · Nov 23, 2011

Growing up and living in central Pennsylvania this story is still all but inescapable. The point made in the article posted above is one that I have been trying to make with people from the start. The pressure to remove Paterno was from the beginning, purely sensationalist. I can't remember ever seeing a witch-hunt so openly celebrated as such.

Borla · Nov 23, 2011

Spiritsoar said: ↑

This is an interesting article I read that was linked to me by a friend who works in the PA education system: In defense of Joe Paterno
The whole thing is worth reading, but I think this is the main part:

Keep in mind, I haven't researched the whole story a lot, I don't follow football at all, and I just hear about things because I'm from Pennsylvania and have several friends who work in some way related to education. I just think it's odd that a whole bunch of people jumped to crucify the "football icon" instead of the alleged perpetrator and the people who were actually legally responsible to act.
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To me, that article is laughable.

1) Sandusky had been accused before, and it is almost certain Paterno knew it. Sandusky had been Paterno's top assistant and heir apparent and was forced to retire early, at the height of his career and in his prime, after earlier allegations. To pretend Paterno didn't know why that happened I find preposterous. Then later, after yet other allegations, Sandusky was asked to stop bringing kids to the football facilities. It's another stretch to believe Paterno didn't know of that.

2) It is incredibly naive to call Paterno 'just a football coach'. He was God at PSU. A few years ago the University President (supposedly his boss's boss, right?) and a member of the Board of Trustees (representing the President's bosses) came to Paterno's house to fire him. He kicked them out and said 'no, you aren't firing me'. And he stayed. Sound like 'just a coach' to anyone else?

There are more fallacies, but those two points shoot the entire argument of that article out of the water.

I agree that Sandusky is by far the biggest monster. But if you really look into the details, it is apparent that he was enabled by many powerful people who could've affected a change, including Paterno. Paterno himself even says he bears some responsibility, and not doing anything is his biggest regret in 84 years of life. It's hard to say he doesn't when he himself admits to it.

Spiritsoar · Nov 23, 2011

While I can't argue your points, I do know that it has raised some concerns in the education/mandated reporter people I know. Some quotes from another discussion I had with them online:

"If I hear of something and report it to the principal, I have faith that she will deal with it appropriately. I am NOT equipped to address it or investigate it or pursue it myself. From the mandated reporter guidelines: "shall immediately notify the person in charge of the institution, school facility or agency or the designated agent of the person in charge." The responsibility is that if you hear of anything, even if you don't believe it, you report it, 1st, 2nd, 3rd hand or more. If I reported something, I wouldn't see if anything was being done or not because I would be far removed from that situation. If I knew for a fact that it was brushed over, I would of course call the police. But if the principal said that it was being handled appropriately, I would trust that it was because I trust that she would do so."

Someone else,
"I was a mandated reporter, yes. But while I was at work my responsibility was to report any accusation/witnessing of abuse to a supervisor who would handle it in the way they saw fit. If I chose to report it to the police directly at any point, I would have been fired, and possibly sued."

I myself am a mandated reporter as a health care provider. I know I certainly don't call the police. I tell my head nurse, who tells social services, who presumably tells the authorities. So while I you could certainly argue that Joe Paterno might have had exceptional authority to get things done, I know that the whole issue has made some people nervous about the proper thing to do.

Borla · Nov 23, 2011

Spiritsoar said: ↑

While I can't argue your points, I do know that it has raised some concerns in the education/mandated reporter people I know. Some quotes from another discussion I had with them online:

"If I hear of something and report it to the principal, I have faith that she will deal with it appropriately. I am NOT equipped to address it or investigate it or pursue it myself. From the mandated reporter guidelines: "shall immediately notify the person in charge of the institution, school facility or agency or the designated agent of the person in charge." The responsibility is that if you hear of anything, even if you don't believe it, you report it, 1st, 2nd, 3rd hand or more. If I reported something, I wouldn't see if anything was being done or not because I would be far removed from that situation. If I knew for a fact that it was brushed over, I would of course call the police. But if the principal said that it was being handled appropriately, I would trust that it was because I trust that she would do so."

Someone else,
"I was a mandated reporter, yes. But while I was at work my responsibility was to report any accusation/witnessing of abuse to a supervisor who would handle it in the way they saw fit. If I chose to report it to the police directly at any point, I would have been fired, and possibly sued."

I myself am a mandated reporter as a health care provider. I know I certainly don't call the police. I tell my head nurse, who tells social services, who presumably tells the authorities. So while I you could certainly argue that Joe Paterno might have had exceptional authority to get things done, I know that the whole issue has made some people nervous about the proper thing to do.
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First, few mandated reporters have the absolute authority that Paterno did, so I can understand some having valid concerns. I guess, if I were in their shoes, the exact circumstances of the event and response would drive my reaction. If I had what I felt was a valid report from an eyewitness of a little kid being raped, by someone who had been repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct with children before, I think my response would be pretty extreme. Especially if I thereafter saw him continue to be allowed on school grounds, on school trips with children, and actively involved in community programs with little children. I think that is part of what is so offensive in the PSU case.

As far as the person who said they would be afraid of getting fired or sued for reporting it to police, there are whistleblower laws to protect against that. All they would have to do is make sure they reported things honestly to law enforcement and thereafter keep the information confidential.

Borla · Nov 23, 2011

New allegations.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/11/2...ations-against-sandusky-that-involve-current/

I read on another site that the rumor is that at least one of the cases involves a close relative of Sandusky's. I wonder if it was the boy he adopted. I've thought his silence through all this has been conspicious.

chinese crested · Nov 23, 2011

They always seem to leave a string of victims dont they, these robbers of innocence.

Craven Morehead · Nov 23, 2011

chinese crested said: ↑

robbers of innocence
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Such an apt term. Once gone it can never be replaced.

chinese crested · Nov 24, 2011

It should be considered more precious than gold. The village should guard its little treasures.

dippin · Nov 24, 2011

The thing that basically makes it impossible to defend Paterno or anyone else there is that Penn State did take some action against Sandusky. The fact that they restricted his access to the locker room and the presence of kids from his charity there make any other defense of Patern or PSU hard to take seriously. Because those actions against Sandusky made it clear that Penn State and Paterno thought that the allegations were serious enough to take some action.

Borla · Nov 26, 2011

An article in this week's issue of ESPN Magazine gives an interesting commentary on the whole thing. I think the parallels (and timing) of when the abuse was originally reported to Paterno, and what was going in the media involving the Catholic Church at that time is especially interesting.

http://espn.go.com/espn/commentary/...catholic-church-sex-scandal-prevented-tragedy

Was Joe Paterno reading the newspapers in 2002?

Did he watch any TV news that year -- the same year in which he, along with Penn State AD Tim Curley, senior VP Gary Schultz and president Graham Spanier, failed to tell police about the alleged rape of a 10-year-old boy by former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky in the school's showers? If he and his colleagues had been paying attention, they would have learned, as so many other powerful men have, that covering up or ignoring credible allegations of sexual abuse is not just morally wrong and extraordinarily harmful to children. It also almost never works.

From 2001 to 2004, I was the lead trial lawyer in more than 230 cases involving sexual abuse among Roman Catholic priests in Boston. My colleagues and I were able to obtain thousands of internal church documents showing that the revered Cardinal Bernard Law not only declined to report dozens of pedophile priests, but he gave them new assignments where they could continue to prey on children. This secret material, reluctantly released by the church after numerous court orders throughout 2002, showed that even one of the most powerful Catholics in America could not cover up decades of child abuse forever.

So why did Paterno and his colleagues think, that same year, that they could ignore Sandusky's alleged offenses? It's the same mind-set that so many bishops, cardinals, Boy Scout leaders and other enablers of child sexual abuse have: Their loyalty is to the perpetrator they have known for years and not to the children who are the victims. You can't overstate the tragedy in this: When the powerful fail to do what's necessary to stop the predators in their midst, the abuse continues and the powerless suffer.

After Paterno's graduate assistant came to him with his eyewitness account of Sandusky's abuse, the coach must have realized that if the accusation was correct, there could be other victims to come. So when he failed to follow up and make sure that a report to law enforcement and child protection services was filed, he was putting multiple preadolescent boys at risk of being abused. Such boys, experts agree, often become men who lead lives filled with drug and alcohol abuse, failed relationships, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, self-hatred and suicide. If this fate befalls any of Sandusky's alleged victims, that's on Paterno's head too.

For Penn State and its fired coach, there is a way to at least mitigate their profound failings. First, stop making offensive comments. Paterno sounded like some of the Catholic bishops I sued when he said that we should "say a prayer" for the victims. The victims don't need his prayers right now; they needed his help when they were being preyed upon. Second, fess up. I can state with near certainty that other damaging facts will emerge. It's better for Paterno and Penn State to divulge everything they know, and now. Do not follow the sad path of Roman Catholic archdioceses around the country by going into obfuscation mode. Transparency may not only help Paterno and the rest clear their consciences, but it may also keep multiple-victim lawsuits against them at bay (you'd better believe the trial lawyers are circling). Third, Penn State, with Paterno's encouragement and financial support, should set up a hotline staffed by clinicians who will be available to answer calls from all the victims. The school should also offer them free mental-health treatment.

These are not easy steps. But for a man who prides himself as a person of high moral standing, not to mention a good Catholic, Paterno has to realize that protecting his reputation is of minor consequence compared with repairing the damage he has done.

Roderick MacLeish, a mediator with the Massachusetts firm MacLeish & Woolverton, secured more than $85 million for victims in hundreds of sex-abuse cases in Boston's archdiocese.
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Ourcrazymodern? · Nov 27, 2011

A friend who follows sports religiously tells me this was to be expected. Another moment of agreement.

Borla · Nov 30, 2011

Ourcrazymodern? said: ↑

A friend who follows sports religiously tells me this was to be expected. Another moment of agreement.
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I found irony in the words "sports" and "religiously" being next to each other. When sports becomes like religion, we get this type of mess.

A civil suit was just filed by an accuser who came forward only after hearing of the grand jury indictment. He claims to have been raped 100s of times, and thought until now that he was the only victim. He also said Sandusky threatened to hurt his family if he ever told on him.

The latest accuser of Sandusky, who came forward after the story became national news, claimed that Sandusky threatened to hurt his family if he ever told anyone what happened.

http://news.yahoo.com/sex-abuse-suit-claims-sandusky-threatened-boy-family-182951181.html

The latest person to accuse former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky of sexual abuse also claims that Sandusky threatened to hurt the boy’s family if he ever told anyone about the abuse.
Sandusky’s newest accuser, who is now 29, had not told anyone about the abuse until he read about the grand jury presentment charging Sandusky with 40 counts of child molestation over 15 years, his lawyer Jeff Anderson said today. Until that time, he had thought he was the only victim.
The man, whose identity was not released, issued a statement that said, ”I don’t want other kids to be abused by Jerry Sandusky or anybody like Penn State to allow people like him to do it–rape kids! I never told anybody what he did to me over 100 times at all kinds of places until the newspapers reported that he had abused other kids.”
“I am hurting and have been for a long time because of what happened, but feel now even more tormented that I have learned of so many other kids were abused after me,” he said.
Anderson said the boy met Sandusky through the Second Mile foundation when the alleged victim was 10, and was abused by Sandusky from 1992 to 1994. He said that Sandusky threatened to harm the boy’s family if the boy told anyone about the abuse. Sandusky also paid for sports camps, plied the boy with gifts, and took him on trips, Anderson said.
The lawyer said during a press conference today that they had filed suit against Sandusky, Penn State and the Second Mile charity seeking reparations for over 100 acts of sexual abuse.
Anderson alleged that Sandusky had abused the boy at Penn State University, at Second Mile events, at his home, at a Penn State bowl game out of state, and in Philadelphia.
The victim notified law enforcement authorities on Tuesday, Anderson said.
The lawsuit alleges child abuse, negligence, emotional distress, and conspiracy to endanger a child, among other charges. It was filed in the Philadelphia Court of Common please and seeks a jury trial.
“How can it be that (Sandusky) was allowed to be such a peril to so many kids for so long?” Anderson asked. “It is because those among him, when they saw the signs or heard the signals, refused to see, hear or act because they thought more of the institution and trusted him blindly, in a way that made the kids suffer enormously.”
Anderson, a Minnesota attorney who specializes in child sex abuse cases, said he believed Sandusky had hundreds of victims, and blamed Penn State and Second Mile officials for looking the other way when clear signs of Sandusky’s abuse were evident, including a 1998 investigation into Sandusky showering with a boy on Penn State’s campus.
The Second Mile said saying it would review the complaint and adhere to its legal responsibilities throughout the process.
“As always, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” the statement said.
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Lindy · Nov 30, 2011

I'm cynical.

Public: "This stinks! Jump on Sandusky."
Lawyers: "I smell deep pockets! Jump on Joe Pa and Penn State."
Second Mile alumni:"Don't leave me behind! Jump on the bandwagon!"

Lindy

Ourcrazymodern? · Dec 1, 2011

Gosh, Lindy. Such behavior made public makes you think of money? The child rapist thought he was immune. I'm waiting to see his accusations regarding his own childhood. With plenty of money in his pocketses, this could take awhile. I think he should be taken out behind the barn & shot, AFTER he makes a full confession. Why is he still free?

Borla · Dec 7, 2011

Sandusky was re-arrested today on additional charges concerning other victims.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-pennstate-abuse

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP)—Ex-Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky was arrested and arraigned Wednesday on new sex abuse charges brought by two new accusers, the state attorney general’s office said.
The charges were brought after new accusers were questioned by a grand jury following Sandusky’s arrest last month. One alleged victim claims he was assaulted after meeting Sandusky in 1997 and the other claims he was assaulted in 2004.

More on scandal

A call seeking comment from Sandusky’s lawyer, Joseph Amendola, was not immediately returned.

Jerry Sandusky
Sandusky was already charged with 40 counts of child sex abuse involving eight young boys over a 15-year span. He has denied being a pedophile and has vowed to fight the case. In interviews with NBC and The New York Times, he has said he showered and horsed around with boys but never sexually abused them.
The new charges include four counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and two counts of unlawful contact with a minor, all of them first-degree felonies punishable by up to 20 years in prison and $25,000 in fines.
Sandusky also was charged with a count of indecent assault and two counts of endangering the welfare of children. Those are third-degree felonies punishable by up to seven years in prison and $15,000 in fines.
Like some of the other victims, the two new ones, dubbed Victims 9 and 10 by prosecutors, allegedly met Sandusky through The Second Mile charity, which he founded in 1977.
“As in many of the other cases identified to date, the contact with Sandusky allegedly fit a pattern of `grooming’ victims,” Attorney General Linda Kelly said in a statement. “Beginning with outings to football games and gifts; they later included physical contact that escalated to sexual assaults.”
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Hopefully this time they set the bail high enough that he can't get out.

PonyPotato · Dec 7, 2011

Borla said: ↑

Sandusky was re-arrested today on additional charges concerning other victims.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-pennstate-abuse

Hopefully this time they set the bail high enough that he can't get out.
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Hopefully this time they have a judge setting his bail who doesn't have a conflict of interest.

Zen · Dec 7, 2011

I'll mention I'm following this thread closely. Respect to all contributers :nod:
My silence is not passive.
With each new break of news, my boiling blood locks up my tongue ... my bad.
There are some god damned bastards.

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