Friday, June 22, 2012 11:24:54 PM
Penn State: Would you do better than Joe Paterno?
11 November 2011 Last updated at 01:22 GMT
By Kate Dailey BBC News Magazine
Joe Paterno walks across a field Joe Paterno watches his team
practise. He would be sacked later that night
The author, a Pennsylvania State University graduate, wonders how her alma mater could
find itself in the centre of a horrific sexual abuse scandal. The answer: very easily.
This week, the office of Pennsylvania's attorney general released a damning grand jury report. It outlined years of sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated by former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
Though Mr Sandusky had retired from the university in 1999, the report alleges that he raped and molested boys on Penn State's main campus for the next several years.
The report also included details of witnesses seeing the abuse and declining to call the police. There were allegations of school officials, amongst them long-time football coach Joe Paterno, receiving evidence of abuse and declining to take serious action.
The shocking behaviour did not end there: President Graham Spanier, who has since lost his job, offered his full-throated support for two university officials accused of covering up the abuse.
Then, after the board of trustees voted to fire both Mr Spanier and Mr Paterno, hundreds of Penn State students took to the streets, .. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15682779 .. demanding the return of their beloved coach.
To the rest of the world, it looked like madness. What on earth was going on at Penn State?
Sadly, what's going on is what always happens in cases like these - only this time, the whole world is watching.
'Unbelievable consequences'
Conservative estimates published in the journal Science .. http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/articles/science05.htm .. suggest that 5% to 10% of American boys have been sexually assaulted, as have 20% of girls. Some 90% of these cases are never reported.
These numbers have remained consistent for years. And the Penn State example helps demonstrate why.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Child abuse in America
Every five hours a child dies from abuse or neglect in the US.
The latest government figures show an estimated 1,770 children were killed as a result of maltreatment in 2009.
A recent congressional report concludes the real number could be nearer 2,500.
In fact, America has the worst child abuse record in the industrialised world. Why? The BBC investigates.
America's child death shame .. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15288865
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We choose not to talk about it," says Jolie Logan, chief executive of Darkness to Light, a non-profit group that trains adults to prevent abuse. "Who wants to think about people having sex with children? Because it's not comfortable to talk about, we don't."
At Penn State, Mr Paterno's actions have led to a lot of justifiable outrage, along with a lot of less-justifiable claims that anyone else in that position would have done things differently.
"All of us over-estimate our likelihood of being a hero, and the ease with which we would go ahead and do the right thing," says David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. "Faced with the unbelievable consequences that the disclosure might have, their will collapses, and they are unable to do the right thing."
Paterno eventually lost his job for going to the university administration instead of the police with information about an assault. It was a poor decision, but a common one in these types of cases. "People don't know the law. Unless you have campaigns or an awareness program, people go to who they perceive to be the authority, instead of the police," said Lisa Cromer, co-director of the Tulsa Institute for Trauma, Abuse and Neglect.
'Betrayal blindness'
Ms Cromer has conducted 10 years of research on why sexual abuse goes unreported. She notes that men are significantly less likely than women to acknowledge abuse, but that in a tremendous number of cases, witnesses to abuse find ways to rationalise that behaviour.
Joe Paterno was a legendary winner and
was revered by players and fans
"Generally speaking, we all under-report," she says. "People think it's a big deal to report - they want to make sure there's no doubt. But really, that's a decision for the authorities and the courts."
Self-preservation, denial and fear are all at play. Some of that stems from conscious decision-making, and some of it may be "betrayal blindness".
Jennifer Freyd, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, has been testing this concept, which posits that people who could suffer harm from confronting abuse - physical, professional, or psychological - are often unable to recognise that the abuse exists.
"If you get to the point where you're aware of the abuse, it's hard to avoid that you've detected it," she says.
"A better strategy, if you're lucky enough to be built this way, is to just not see it in the first place. This can get a lot of people in trouble."
A hopeful riot
Psychological rationales do not let the Penn State officials off the hook. But they do suggest that the factors allowing sexual abuse are not unique to the university.
To open one's mind to the realities of sexual abuse - that it happens all around us, that good people are complicit, that not enough is being done to stop it - can be too intimidating, says Ms Freyd. She says the denial displayed by the protesters makes sense in this context.
"Once you really look at it, you feel you need to do something about it. It's taking on an awfully big responsibility. A lot of people who are responding to this situation may not be ready to deal with it," she says, especially considering the statistical reality that numerous abuse victims and sexual abuse perpetrators are part of the audience.
To her, the riots, the firings, the nationwide scandal are actually positive signs. Sexual abuse of this magnitude, she says, goes on all the time, but rarely are charges filed, officials held accountable, or outrage expressed. The uproar at Penn State is much better than the alternative: silence.
"Though it's very uncomfortable for everyone, it helps that people are freaked out," says Ms Freyd.
"It's hard to get through the process of becoming aware, but with awareness we're in the position to stop this sort of thing. The more we talk about it, the more it will come to an end."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15668834
======== .. the story above is a Related in the one below ..
US coach Jerry Sandusky guilty of Penn State sex abuse
23 June 2012 Last updated at 02:37 GMT
Jerry Sandusky repeatedly denied abuse
but admitted to showering with boys
Related Stories
Penn State's spiritual crisis .. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16770479
Would you do better than Joe Paterno? .. see above ..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15668834
Former US college football coach Jerry Sandusky has been found guilty of 45 out of 48 counts of child sex abuse.
Sandusky, 68, denied 48 counts of abusing 10 boys over 15 years. He is expected to appeal but could spend the rest of his life in prison.
The jury reached its verdict at the end of its second day of deliberations.
His arrest in November caused a scandal at Penn State University, Pennsylvania that saw the president and legendary football coach Joe Paterno both fired.
After the verdict, Sandusky's bail was revoked and he was taken into custody in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
The BBC's Kate Dailey, who was in the courtroom in Bellefonte, said Sandusky gave a small wave to his family as he was led away.
Outside the courthouse a large crowd cheered as news of the verdict got out, our correspondent adds.
The decision, delivered by a jury of seven women and five men, came after about 21 hours of deliberations over two days.
Unfolding accusations
Sandusky, who did not testify, was accused of abusing boys he met through Second Mile, a charity he founded for at-risk youth.
He allegedly abused them at his home, in hotels and the athletic facilities of Penn State.
Eight men aged between 18 and 28 testified during the nearly two-week trial, providing graphic details of the alleged abuse.
One witness told the court how he hid and then threw away underwear after Sandusky allegedly forced him to have anal sex, making him bleed.
In cross-examination during the trial, defence lawyer Joe Amendola pressed the accusers for further details of their allegations, as well as contacts they had with Sandusky since the alleged abuse.
At least six accusers said they told incorrect or incomplete stories in early contacts with police, while three told the court that some details only came back to them in recent years.
A former graduate assistant and key prosecution witness, Mike McQueary, told the jury he saw Sandusky standing naked behind a boy in a Penn State shower, slowly moving his hips.
Meanwhile, Sandusky's wife, Dottie, also took the stand and told the court about her husband's charitable work with children. The defence called 28 witnesses, many of whom spoke about the coach's high standing in the community.
Sandusky's arrest in November led to the firing of several Penn State officials amid accusations that the university had failed to act on reports of suspected abuse.
Two Penn State administrators are awaiting trial for failing
to report the suspected abuse and lying to the grand jury.
Penn State boasts one of the proudest football traditions in the country.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18561442
see also ..
US priest trial painful, poignant for Catholics
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=74687235
11 November 2011 Last updated at 01:22 GMT
By Kate Dailey BBC News Magazine
Joe Paterno walks across a field Joe Paterno watches his team
practise. He would be sacked later that night
The author, a Pennsylvania State University graduate, wonders how her alma mater could
find itself in the centre of a horrific sexual abuse scandal. The answer: very easily.
This week, the office of Pennsylvania's attorney general released a damning grand jury report. It outlined years of sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated by former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
Though Mr Sandusky had retired from the university in 1999, the report alleges that he raped and molested boys on Penn State's main campus for the next several years.
The report also included details of witnesses seeing the abuse and declining to call the police. There were allegations of school officials, amongst them long-time football coach Joe Paterno, receiving evidence of abuse and declining to take serious action.
The shocking behaviour did not end there: President Graham Spanier, who has since lost his job, offered his full-throated support for two university officials accused of covering up the abuse.
Then, after the board of trustees voted to fire both Mr Spanier and Mr Paterno, hundreds of Penn State students took to the streets, .. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15682779 .. demanding the return of their beloved coach.
To the rest of the world, it looked like madness. What on earth was going on at Penn State?
Sadly, what's going on is what always happens in cases like these - only this time, the whole world is watching.
'Unbelievable consequences'
Conservative estimates published in the journal Science .. http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/articles/science05.htm .. suggest that 5% to 10% of American boys have been sexually assaulted, as have 20% of girls. Some 90% of these cases are never reported.
These numbers have remained consistent for years. And the Penn State example helps demonstrate why.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Child abuse in America
Every five hours a child dies from abuse or neglect in the US.
The latest government figures show an estimated 1,770 children were killed as a result of maltreatment in 2009.
A recent congressional report concludes the real number could be nearer 2,500.
In fact, America has the worst child abuse record in the industrialised world. Why? The BBC investigates.
America's child death shame .. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15288865
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"We choose not to talk about it," says Jolie Logan, chief executive of Darkness to Light, a non-profit group that trains adults to prevent abuse. "Who wants to think about people having sex with children? Because it's not comfortable to talk about, we don't."
At Penn State, Mr Paterno's actions have led to a lot of justifiable outrage, along with a lot of less-justifiable claims that anyone else in that position would have done things differently.
"All of us over-estimate our likelihood of being a hero, and the ease with which we would go ahead and do the right thing," says David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. "Faced with the unbelievable consequences that the disclosure might have, their will collapses, and they are unable to do the right thing."
Paterno eventually lost his job for going to the university administration instead of the police with information about an assault. It was a poor decision, but a common one in these types of cases. "People don't know the law. Unless you have campaigns or an awareness program, people go to who they perceive to be the authority, instead of the police," said Lisa Cromer, co-director of the Tulsa Institute for Trauma, Abuse and Neglect.
'Betrayal blindness'
Ms Cromer has conducted 10 years of research on why sexual abuse goes unreported. She notes that men are significantly less likely than women to acknowledge abuse, but that in a tremendous number of cases, witnesses to abuse find ways to rationalise that behaviour.
Joe Paterno was a legendary winner and
was revered by players and fans
"Generally speaking, we all under-report," she says. "People think it's a big deal to report - they want to make sure there's no doubt. But really, that's a decision for the authorities and the courts."
Self-preservation, denial and fear are all at play. Some of that stems from conscious decision-making, and some of it may be "betrayal blindness".
Jennifer Freyd, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, has been testing this concept, which posits that people who could suffer harm from confronting abuse - physical, professional, or psychological - are often unable to recognise that the abuse exists.
"If you get to the point where you're aware of the abuse, it's hard to avoid that you've detected it," she says.
"A better strategy, if you're lucky enough to be built this way, is to just not see it in the first place. This can get a lot of people in trouble."
A hopeful riot
Psychological rationales do not let the Penn State officials off the hook. But they do suggest that the factors allowing sexual abuse are not unique to the university.
To open one's mind to the realities of sexual abuse - that it happens all around us, that good people are complicit, that not enough is being done to stop it - can be too intimidating, says Ms Freyd. She says the denial displayed by the protesters makes sense in this context.
"Once you really look at it, you feel you need to do something about it. It's taking on an awfully big responsibility. A lot of people who are responding to this situation may not be ready to deal with it," she says, especially considering the statistical reality that numerous abuse victims and sexual abuse perpetrators are part of the audience.
To her, the riots, the firings, the nationwide scandal are actually positive signs. Sexual abuse of this magnitude, she says, goes on all the time, but rarely are charges filed, officials held accountable, or outrage expressed. The uproar at Penn State is much better than the alternative: silence.
"Though it's very uncomfortable for everyone, it helps that people are freaked out," says Ms Freyd.
"It's hard to get through the process of becoming aware, but with awareness we're in the position to stop this sort of thing. The more we talk about it, the more it will come to an end."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15668834
======== .. the story above is a Related in the one below ..
US coach Jerry Sandusky guilty of Penn State sex abuse
23 June 2012 Last updated at 02:37 GMT
Jerry Sandusky repeatedly denied abuse
but admitted to showering with boys
Related Stories
Penn State's spiritual crisis .. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16770479
Would you do better than Joe Paterno? .. see above ..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15668834
Former US college football coach Jerry Sandusky has been found guilty of 45 out of 48 counts of child sex abuse.
Sandusky, 68, denied 48 counts of abusing 10 boys over 15 years. He is expected to appeal but could spend the rest of his life in prison.
The jury reached its verdict at the end of its second day of deliberations.
His arrest in November caused a scandal at Penn State University, Pennsylvania that saw the president and legendary football coach Joe Paterno both fired.
After the verdict, Sandusky's bail was revoked and he was taken into custody in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
The BBC's Kate Dailey, who was in the courtroom in Bellefonte, said Sandusky gave a small wave to his family as he was led away.
Outside the courthouse a large crowd cheered as news of the verdict got out, our correspondent adds.
The decision, delivered by a jury of seven women and five men, came after about 21 hours of deliberations over two days.
Unfolding accusations
Sandusky, who did not testify, was accused of abusing boys he met through Second Mile, a charity he founded for at-risk youth.
He allegedly abused them at his home, in hotels and the athletic facilities of Penn State.
Eight men aged between 18 and 28 testified during the nearly two-week trial, providing graphic details of the alleged abuse.
One witness told the court how he hid and then threw away underwear after Sandusky allegedly forced him to have anal sex, making him bleed.
In cross-examination during the trial, defence lawyer Joe Amendola pressed the accusers for further details of their allegations, as well as contacts they had with Sandusky since the alleged abuse.
At least six accusers said they told incorrect or incomplete stories in early contacts with police, while three told the court that some details only came back to them in recent years.
A former graduate assistant and key prosecution witness, Mike McQueary, told the jury he saw Sandusky standing naked behind a boy in a Penn State shower, slowly moving his hips.
Meanwhile, Sandusky's wife, Dottie, also took the stand and told the court about her husband's charitable work with children. The defence called 28 witnesses, many of whom spoke about the coach's high standing in the community.
Sandusky's arrest in November led to the firing of several Penn State officials amid accusations that the university had failed to act on reports of suspected abuse.
Two Penn State administrators are awaiting trial for failing
to report the suspected abuse and lying to the grand jury.
Penn State boasts one of the proudest football traditions in the country.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18561442
see also ..
US priest trial painful, poignant for Catholics
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=74687235
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