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Disgraced Former Penn State DC Jerry Sandusky (convicted child molester)

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Buckeyefrankmp;2029436; said:
Joe Paterno should step down today as (figure) head coach. How is it alright for JoePa to pass this along to the ad and wash his hands at the whole situation. Legally he did the right thing. Morally, he dropped the ball. What kind of leadership does this show? What would he tell the kids that were abused. "I did all I could to help you."


http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/footba...paterno_statement_raises_more_questions110611
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Not a lawyer, but I'm not sure he did the right thing legally. It seems to me each and every person in the chain of comand that knew about this had an obligation to go to the cops.
 
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Not a lawyer, but is it every person's responsibility who is aware of a crime to report same to the police? I didn't think it was.

This doesn't strike me as anything other than an error in judgment, and not one that requires Paterno to resign. If he says he was unaware of the specific nature of what Sandusky was doing, I'm inclined to believe him.
 
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How difficult would it have been for Joe to ask McQueary a few questions concerning what McQueary saw in the locker room shower with a former DC and a 10 year old boy if McQueary was in fact vague in his story to Paterno? According to the indictment McQueary had no problem telling Schultz and Curley that he witnessed anal intercourse. Sorry but I am not buying Paterno had no knowledge.
 
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MaxBuck;2029445; said:
Not a lawyer, but is it every person's responsibility who is aware of a crime to report same to the police? I didn't think it was.

This doesn't strike me as anything other than an error in judgment, and not one that requires Paterno to resign. If he says he was unaware of the specific nature of what Sandusky was doing, I'm inclined to believe him.
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Sandusky was a guy that worked for Joe for over 30 years. As a DC, there were probably hundreds of weeks where they spent more time together than they did with their wives. If JoePa was told that Sandusky was "in the Lasch Building showers fondling or doing something of a sexual nature to a young boy", which is the quote in the Grand Jury document, don't you think it's JoePa's responsibility as head of the football program to find out if that was true, and if so, prevent Sandusky from being able to something like that again in the showers of the Penn State football facility, where Sandusky still had an office and emeritus status? Shouldn't JoePa also find out if his longtime friend needed some help?

Perhaps Paterno fulfilled his legal responsibility by passing the information up the chain. But in my eyes he clearly fell way short of his ethical responsibilities toward all of the young boys in Second Mile. If one of my sons had been abused by Sandusky sometime after that 2002 incident. I'd make DAMN sure that Paterno was named in the civil lawsuit, along with the AD, the VP of finance that was also in charge of the University Police at the time (there's a conflict of interest nobody's commented on), President Spanier, Penn State University, and Jerry Sandusky himself.
 
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MaxBuck;2029445; said:
Not a lawyer, but is it every person's responsibility who is aware of a crime to report same to the police? I didn't think it was.
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We're dealing with matters of state criminal law, so there is no uniform answer to your question. And I don't practice criminal law. But my understanding is that, in many states, it is in fact a crime to fail to report knowledge of a sex crime committed against a child. I'm working off memory here, so I may be slightly off on the facts, but you may remember an incident a few years ago in which a guy in his twenties raped a young girl in a Las Vegas bathroom. Before he'd done so, he basically told his friend what he was about to do, but the friend did nothing to stop it and never reported the incident until questioned by police. I believe that incident may have led many states to pass laws requiring citizens to go to the authorities with such information.

With regard to Pennsylvania, it sounds like the law the administrative officials are being charged under requires employees of state institutions to report information pertaining to child abuse to the police. Given the way the statute is worded, however, it arguably only applies to state employees at certain agencies and institutions that regularly come into contact with children as part of their job duties. That apparently will be the argument presented on the motion to dismiss that charge. Even if the motion to dismiss were to be granted, the perjury charge would still remain.
 
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Something else that's bothersome that hasn't been mentioned, as far as I recall.

Jerry Sandusky founded Second Mile in 1977. Does anybody really believe that nothing like this happened until 1994? From my limited understanding of sexual predators, they don't normally just start that behavior around the age of 50. Sandusky is probably the way he is because something very bad happened to him when he was a kid, or his brain has some screwed-up wiring. And it seems very likely to me that he was involved in this type of behavior a lot longer than has been alleged to this point.

As I said earlier, there will be lawyers scouring the Pennsylvania countryside to locate other potential victims of abuse. Of course, the greater financial windfall is available for those victimized after the 2002 incident that was terribly mishandled by employees of Penn State.
 
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MaxBuck;2029445; said:
Not a lawyer, but is it every person's responsibility who is aware of a crime to report same to the police? I didn't think it was.

This doesn't strike me as anything other than an error in judgment, and not one that requires Paterno to resign. If he says he was unaware of the specific nature of what Sandusky was doing, I'm inclined to believe him.
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Error of judgement is walking by the offseason workouts to see who is there and who is not.
Paterno acknowledged McQueary told him of ?an incident in the shower of our locker room? involving Sandusky and that he believed McQueary clearly ?saw something inappropriate involving Mr. Sandusky.?
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He was aware of the incident. If McQueary saw something involving inappropriate activity in the shower concerning Mr. Sandusky, what do you think that could be?

I don't buy this argument that since it is not his legal obligation to tell that a crime is committed, in this case he should not step down. Someone speeding can go without reporting. Someone evading taxes can go without reporting. If you have knowledge of someone breaking the law that effects a third party, like a hit and run, like a murder or like sexual abuse of a 10 year old boy, I think you are morally obligated to tell the police.
 
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Buckeyefrankmp;2029477; said:
Error of judgement is walking by the offseason workouts to see who is there and who is not.
He was aware of the incident. If McQueary saw something involving inappropriate activity in the shower concerning Mr. Sandusky, what do you think that could be?

I don't buy this argument that since it is not his legal obligation to tell that a crime is committed, in this case he should not step down. Someone speeding can go without reporting. Someone evading taxes can go without reporting. If you have knowledge of someone breaking the law that effects a third party, like a hit and run, like a murder or like sexual abuse of a 10 year old boy, I think you are morally obligated to tell the police.
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If I were JoPa, I would have gone to the police when I saw that nothing was being done about the incident. I am guessing that he had his doubts about the allegation when he was told, and didn't want to rush into calling the cops on his friend if it wasn't true. Especially considering he wasn't told about it until the day after. McQuerey (Is it even confirmed that it was him?) should have called the cops immediately after he saw what was going on. Let the powers that be get pissed at you all they want for calling the cops.

It seems like people were more concerned with keeping their jobs than keeping kids away from a predator.
 
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After reading through the links and the grand jury indictment, one thing jumps out very clearly.

All involved (McQueary, Paterno, AD, VP and President) put the interests of their jobs, the program and the Paterno legacy (in what order of importance I can't say) ahead of the safety and interests of the kid being raped in the shower, any previous kids who had been raped and any future kids who would be raped by Sandusky. What kills me is that they didn't go to the police but subsequently barred Sandusky from bringing kids onto campus. What is the line of thought here? Hey don't do this where it might embarrass Joe, but feel free to go balls deep on junior across town. OK? [censored]ing sickening.

That some were indicted and others were not, is a very fine line. All should be held accountable and all should be ass-raped in civil court.
 
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i'm doubtful that those at penn state started in 1998 to develop a suspicion that sandusky was attracted to boys. i expect that as more victims come out of the woodwork, which will happen, there will be revelations that sandusky was suspected to be a molester prior to 1998. it has already been alleged that penn state bought a mother's silence with a car. i question the veracity of that rumor, but it wouldn't surprise me if penn state employees knew about or at least suspected the proclivities of paterno's right hand man well before 1998.
 
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I understand and agree with those who say there is a moral obligation to report such incidents as those Sandusky is accused of to the police, immediately. The alleged acts are horrifying, and the fact Sandusky operated with impunity for so many years, hurting so many young men, is disgusting.

At the same time, I'm aware of the human tendency to believe the best of our close friends, often in the face of pretty damning evidence to the contrary. I'm glad I'm not Joe Paterno right now; he has to be going through hell.
 
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