Here's hoping the criminal system goes after the witnesses to Sandusky's crimes

[Honeycombe8]

All the people who saw or heard things, who passed the buck, who did nothing, presumably because Sandusky brought a lot of money into the college.....they should answer for that. How could anyone turn a blind eye to what Sandusky was doing? How could someone say it was a difficult decision to know what to do? No, it wasn't. It was easy. You report suspected crimes like this immediately to the police. Period. End of story.

And if you SEE it in progress, you break it up and save the child!

Here's hoping some of those scumbags have to answer for that in a court of law, even if the are acquitted. They should be made to sit there, while a jury listens to the shameful things they did or did not do.

[Bluzmann57]

1. If it goes all the way to the top

The top being University President and chancellors, if they saw and/or heard what was going on and tried to cover it up, prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. And, if the coverup goes that high, I say expel Penn St. from the Big Ten and allow their athletes to transfer anywhere without sitting out a year as is the norm.
edited for atrocious grammar.

[byeya]

2. Wonderful idea!!

[coalition_unwilling]

13. Um, don't you mean PA's Repig Governor Tom Corbett? He was PA Attorney General

at the time the allegations first surfaced. If he heard the allegations and did nothing, should Corbett not also stand accountable before the full majesty of the law?

[Bluzmann57]

14. Yes he should

Heads need to roll in this case. But I suspect that now that the pos sandusky is locked away forever, it ends and we hear little more about it.

[JayhawkSD]

3. Well, Paterno is dead.

And, unfortunately, the others are now "cooperating." so it will end with Sandusky.

[Posteritatis]

6. Sometimes cooperation just nets a shorter prison term. (nt)

[yortsed snacilbuper]

4. What did corbett know,

and why did he cover it up?

[livetohike]

10. More questions: When did he know it? What happened to D. A. Ray Gricar?

What steps did he take in the investigation? If not, why not?

Corbett is doing quite a bit to ruin the state I love. This scandal better include prosecuting him.

[graham4anything]

5. Sandusky and Paterno are posterboys for the repubs

just came to me that Paterno and Sandusky are the typical white male voter that is for the republicans like Mitt Romney

they are the poster boys for the repubs

[GeorgeGist]

7. Winning is Everything.

In the end, JoePa knew he was a Loser.

Hell of a way to go.

[tularetom]

8. IIRC the state AG was made aware of the situation

And elected to do nothing about it.

And that AG is now the governor.

Since we're so into investigations these days, maybe it would be appropriate to investigate why he sat on his hands and let kids be abused.

Perhaps there is some culpability there.

[TorchTheWitch]

9. witnessing a crime and doing nothing is not a crime

And I don't believe it should be. However, if one witnesses or has absolute knowledge of a crime and in any way encourages it, that is a crime. Damned hard to prove though.

Morally, I suppose that if one saw such a crime taking place they should somehow stop it, but I wouldn't. People are never supposed to act as law enforcement, and intervening in any way can and sometimes does come around to bite one on the butt either by the criminal or the law enforcement system or both. Personally, I would hope I could overcome the shock and disgust of witnessing such a thing and at least try to stop it by letting the perp know I was there and that I was seeing what they were doing, then I'd call the police as soon as humanly possible as well as try to get help from anyone else in the vicinity, and if I could, stay with the child until help arrived. By saying "if I could" I mean if the perp ran off and left the child and the child didn't run off either. I wouldn't chase down either one. BUt I know what I tend to do in a crisis, and unfortunately, I usually completely freeze even to my own personal detriment. I honestly don't think I could kick start my brain to properly assess the situation and do anything until it was all over and I had a chance to reflect rationally later once the shock wore off. Some people instantly react without thinking, but I instantly become a mindless zombie even when it's my own self that needs protecting.

I would also be far more inclined to do something where other people in the vicinity, and if there wasn't I would be too frightened for my own safety to intervene in any way. I'm a small female. Men (and particularly larger or more fit men) would probably be more inclined to intervene without the worry that I would have for my own safety.

Whatever the situation though, I would definitely call the police as soon as humanly possible as well as try to get any other people in the vicinity to help do something the moment I could think straight.

[Honeycombe8]

16. I think PA just passed a law making it a crime to have knowledge of child abuse &not

immediately report it to the authorities.

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. Witnessing child abuse and not reporting it is a violation of federal law

for anyone who works with children. I don't understand why those assistant coaches haven't been charged.

[former9thward]

11. What crime would you charge them with?

It is not a crime to see a crime and not report it (there are some very narrow exceptions to this involving people in some positions of authority but they don't affect the average person).

[Honeycombe8]

17. Covering up a crime is a crime, I believe, which is what was going on, it seems.

There's a writing or recording where an upper level mentions it that their concern is to be humane to Sandusky (by not reporting something).

[former9thward]

18. Maybe.

It depends on what exactly was written and what exactly they knew at the time of writing. The graduate assistant who says he saw a boy being raped in the showers has given four different accounts. So what exactly he told other people at the time remains to be seen.

[Johonny]

12. it is so easy to judge others so hard to judge yourself

have you done everything you can with knowledge of every crime you know. Have you turned yourself in when you might have had to much to drink and drive home? Etc... The whole concept to me is crazy. Most of the witnesses in this case did do something anyways. The Penn State Campus police have a huge file of investigations against the man. Responsibility floats to the top which is why we have laws written so that teachers, managers and such when they hear a crime have to report that crime. Why? Because while everyone assumes they will act, study after study shows you often won't act. Particularly is those with authority give you assurance everything is ok. Many of the witness that people so often claim did nothing, did something. However the very top did very little to report these later crimes. The 2 campus administrators I believe will stand trial. I think person most dislike is the former DA who is no longer around. He's the one that didn't charge him way back when even after the huge amount of evidence the campus police collected. I imagine charging a bunch of witnesses to crimes is a great way to make it nearly impossible to get witnesses to report crimes and it is already really hard to get witnesses to report certain crimes.

[spanone]

15. k&r...