These days life isn't so tranquil in Happy Valley, Pennsylvania. The football team at Penn State University is having a lot of trouble concentrating on getting ready for this Saturday's big gridiron clash with the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Real life has intervened.
A former long time assistant coach for the Nittany Lions has been charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of young boys. These charges have tarnished not only the reputation of the university administration but legendary football coach, Joe Paterno, as well.
The chief reason that reputations have been tarnished is that it appears that Paterno and several of his superiors KNEW of the sexual abuse as far back as 2002 and yet no one contacted the police or child protective services. According to Grand Jury testimony, a graduate assistant saw the accused "sodomizing a young boy in the shower at the Lasch Football building." He reported the incident to Paterno who, in turn, notified his superiors.
But there is no indication that ANYTHING substantive happened beyond that point. No one -- not the graduate assistant, Paterno or the university's administration -- tried to ascertain the child's identity. No one took any meaningful steps to try to thwart such abuse in the future. More damning, there is no indication that Coach Paterno attempted to follow up on his report to see what was being/had been done.
No, it appears that the whole slew of them punted, passed and kicked the incident from their minds and immediately returned to the "important" work of football!!!
Sadly, this kind of situation is no anomaly. In my experience as a Child Abuse Investigator, I frequently was shocked when, during the course of investigations, I repeatedly found mandated reporters who knew or strongly suspected child abuse and neglect, but chose not to report it. They would tell me that they didn't want to get people in "trouble," they were told not to by superiors or they simply didn't want to get involved in a sticky situation.
When such knowledge or strong suspicion involves IMPORTANT people, mandated reporters will often go to great lengths not to report their knowledge or strong suspicions.
The tragedy of this, needless to say, is that the standing and reputation of the alleged perpetrator trumps the safety and well-being of innocent children. By keeping quiet and not reporting suspected incidents of sexual abuse, pedophiles are given free reign to abuse again and again and again.
If the allegations are substantiated, Coach Joe Paterno and the university's administrators have a lot of soul searching to do!
A former long time assistant coach for the Nittany Lions has been charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of young boys. These charges have tarnished not only the reputation of the university administration but legendary football coach, Joe Paterno, as well.
The chief reason that reputations have been tarnished is that it appears that Paterno and several of his superiors KNEW of the sexual abuse as far back as 2002 and yet no one contacted the police or child protective services. According to Grand Jury testimony, a graduate assistant saw the accused "sodomizing a young boy in the shower at the Lasch Football building." He reported the incident to Paterno who, in turn, notified his superiors.
But there is no indication that ANYTHING substantive happened beyond that point. No one -- not the graduate assistant, Paterno or the university's administration -- tried to ascertain the child's identity. No one took any meaningful steps to try to thwart such abuse in the future. More damning, there is no indication that Coach Paterno attempted to follow up on his report to see what was being/had been done.
No, it appears that the whole slew of them punted, passed and kicked the incident from their minds and immediately returned to the "important" work of football!!!
Sadly, this kind of situation is no anomaly. In my experience as a Child Abuse Investigator, I frequently was shocked when, during the course of investigations, I repeatedly found mandated reporters who knew or strongly suspected child abuse and neglect, but chose not to report it. They would tell me that they didn't want to get people in "trouble," they were told not to by superiors or they simply didn't want to get involved in a sticky situation.
When such knowledge or strong suspicion involves IMPORTANT people, mandated reporters will often go to great lengths not to report their knowledge or strong suspicions.
The tragedy of this, needless to say, is that the standing and reputation of the alleged perpetrator trumps the safety and well-being of innocent children. By keeping quiet and not reporting suspected incidents of sexual abuse, pedophiles are given free reign to abuse again and again and again.
If the allegations are substantiated, Coach Joe Paterno and the university's administrators have a lot of soul searching to do!
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