Sandusky - trial

[happygirl]

I don't know, it just seems unfair to punish people who had as little knowledge of the abuse as I did. Thousands of people went to work and school there everyday and had absolutely no connection to Sandusky and did nothing to help cover up any of his actions. Not to mention the students who weren't even there yet!

I bet there were tons of rumors about this man all around the campus.

I don't know if I want the team complete gone but I think a year off would be a good thing.

 

[disney4us2002]

Um, yes, if what he DID amounts to NOTHING, I don't really know how to interpret what you said as anything except that he shouldn't have reported it at all. This was not a case of inaction. That would be not doing anything. He did do something. Perhaps not the right thing or the best thing, or what apparently EVERY DISer would have done, but I don't see what he DID DO as being "nothing."

Since we never have identified that poor victim, I have to say that I find what McQueary did as "next to nothing". Is that better? Yeah, he may have been sickened, shocked, in disbelief, etc., but to walk out when a child is obviously in serious danger and being assaulted in front of you is about as close to doing nothing as you can get. Seriously, call 911 if you can't physically break it up yourself but he was 27 and JS was already an old man then! He is disgusting in my book. Does this man have his own children now? Imagine how he would feel if this happened to his child. I can't wrap my brain around how he has lived with this knowledge and his lack of action for this long.

 

[luvmy3]

Um, yes, if what he DID amounts to NOTHING, I don't really know how to interpret what you said as anything except that he shouldn't have reported it at all. This was not a case of inaction. That would be not doing anything. He did do something. Perhaps not the right thing or the best thing, or what apparently EVERY DISer would have done, but I don't see what he DID DO as being "nothing."

Sorry I can't help the fact that you can't seem to understand what I said.

When a grown man witnesses another grown man raping a child and he doesn't do the right thing right then and there and STOP WHAT WAS GOING ON AT THAT VERY MOMENT or at the very least call police immediately so they can stop it then what he does do amounts to doing nothing.

Obviously you feel what he did in that circumstances is justifiable and defensible. Not sure how anyone can, but you are certainly entitled to your opinion. Just as I am in my thinking that he is a piece of garbage.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I wonder why he wasn't found guilty on the other 3 charges. Not enough evidence, maybe? To be honest, I haven't been paying attention. I just find it odd. I wonder if they victims feel insulted at all, if they are happy about the other 45 charges.

 

[allison443]

I wonder why he wasn't found guilty on the other 3 charges. Not enough evidence, maybe? To be honest, I haven't been paying attention. I just find it odd. I wonder if they victims feel insulted at all, if they are happy about the other 45 charges.

There were convictions related to ALL of the victims. The case was based on 10 victims, multiple charges related to each victim. The three not guilty verdicts were related to three separate victims, but there were also convictions related to those victims. That's what I read somewhere, so hope that makes sense.

 

[asta]

Because this was covered up by the INSTITUION of Penn State and the Institution should feel the pain. I don't think you can separate out the players or the current coach from the Institution. If they remain part of the institution, they will be part of the consequences that occur.

Very well said. Now that the Sandusky trial is over it is time for the NCAA to act. The NCAA has handed down punishments for much less serious violations. They have punished for "lack of institutional control" and Penn State at the very least is guilty of this. The situation tolerated at Penn State is the worst that I have heard from any athletic program, ever. Their program deserves the death penalty. An editorial on our local sport page called for this today and I expect to read many more calling for this action.

And please, stop with the tired argument that you can't punish a program because not everyone participated in the crime. That is how the NCAA works. Their punishment often comes against an institution and years after an infraction. Innocent people associated with corrupt programs suffer NCAA punishments all of the time. The SMU football program was given the death penalty for a much less serious violation than what went on at Penn State. I am sure their fans suffered but if this was deemed necessary then it is definitely called for now.

 

[Lynne M]

There were convictions related to ALL of the victims. The case was based on 10 victims, multiple charges related to each victim. The three not guilty verdicts were related to three separate victims, but there were also convictions related to those victims. That's what I read somewhere, so hope that makes sense.

That's correct. There was a conviction for at least one count for each of the victims that testified. There were a few individual charges where the jury felt the prosecution did not prove that the specified criminal act occurred.

One of them was the situation McQueary saw. He changed his story so many times that the jury felt they could not convict on that count.

 

[DWGal210]

I completely agree. I would hope we'd hear something from the NCAA in a few weeks.

Wasn't Ohio State just reprimanded for a violation (not sure for what) much less serious, and they now can't play in bowl games for a few years? If the NCAA doesn't act on this, that will speak volumes.

In cases like this, I always wonder what else is going on with their organization. Those items may be petty in comparison to the abuse but it makes one wonder.

Very well said. Now that the Sandusky trial is over it is time for the NCAA to act. The NCAA has handed down punishments for much less serious violations. They have punished for "lack of institutional control" and Penn State at the very least is guilty of this. The situation tolerated at Penn State is the worst that I have heard from any athletic program, ever. Their program deserves the death penalty. An editorial on our local sport page called for this today and I expect to read many more calling for this action.

And please, stop with the tired argument that you can't punish a program because not everyone participated in the crime. That is how the NCAA works. Their punishment often comes against an institution and years after an infraction. Innocent people associated with corrupt programs suffer NCAA punishments all of the time. The SMU football program was given the death penalty for a much less serious violation than what went on at Penn State. I am sure their fans suffered but if this was deemed necessary then it is definitely called for now.

 

[mjantz]

At the very least I would like to see the NCAA allow any current athlete at Penn State to transfer to another school without losing a year of elgibility.
I'm also on board with the Death Penalty. I've heard somewhere that the NCAA has said they wouldn't do that again because it was so devistating but I think the level of corruption & coverup is so deep in the program (if not the entire athletic department) that scraping the whole thing is the only way to go.
Yes, people who were not involved are going to be affected but a message has to be sent & a very strong message at that.

 

[PeterPan09]

I bet there were tons of rumors about this man all around the campus.

I don't know if I want the team complete gone but I think a year off would be a good thing.

Employees of Disney have been convicted of possession of child pornography and other crimes. Should we close Disney because some of the other 61,999 employees might have heard a rumor?

I get the anger, but we do have to keep some perspective.

 

[mjantz]

Disney is a private company, not a public university so the analogy doesn't work.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I bet there were tons of rumors about this man all around the campus.

I don't know if I want the team complete gone but I think a year off would be a good thing.

I don't see what punishing the football players will do. Punish the administration.

 

[LisaR]

Employees of Disney have been convicted of possession of child pornography and other crimes. Should we close Disney because some of the other 61,999 employees might have heard a rumor?

I get the anger, but we do have to keep some perspective.

Two things:
1. As someone already mentioned, you are talking about a private company versus a public university. Very different circumstances.

2. YES, we most certainly should close Disney if it was discovered that Disney knew about this, allowed it to continue on their property, and encouraged the perpetrators to continue to use their facility and interact with the children on their property. I would most certainly scream loud and clear that they should shut their doors if they are contributing knowingly to this type of behavior. But that wasn't the case. It was a case of employees doing something illegal during their off hours. They were fired and the crime was handled by the police......the way it should be.

 

[cabanafrau]

I don't see what punishing the football players will do. Punish the administration.

The very best result of any type of penalties in this situation, jail, lawsuits, fines, suspensions, whatever it may be, will be to make more people aware and more people inclined to speak up loudly in these situations.

It is heartbreaking when you really learn about these cases and how incredibly complex they can be and how difficult it is to get reported. I know of a case of a young mother who was a victim herself as a child. She moved in with a boyfriend w/ her two daughters, five and two. These were her children, not his. Within weeks her two year old was acting out in a way that absolutely revealed she was abused. Mom asked the five year old sister who confirmed it, but then retracted when mom became hysterical. Mom buried her head in the sand for another 3 mos. She had to walk in and catch him in the act before she acted.

I could not understand it. The mom couldn't explain it. Two psychologists testified the mom was literally unable to process the threat and what was happening. I still cannot wrap my brain around it, but I'm positive this mom loves her girls with every fiber of her being. Unfortunately what happened to her has so disrupted her thinking in this regard that she literally was unable to protect her children. It was not at all a matter of her choosing the boyfriend or even loving him, which is what I would have speculated must have been her reasoning. It wasn't even about being out on the streets if she confronted him. Her own experience literally wiped out a portion of her brain that would allow her train of thought of suspicion to immediately cause her to act. Really drives home the trauma of these cases to the victims.

 

[asta]

At the very least I would like to see the NCAA allow any current athlete at Penn State to transfer to another school without losing a year of elgibility. I'm also on board with the Death Penalty. I've heard somewhere that the NCAA has said they wouldn't do that again because it was so devistating but I think the level of corruption & coverup is so deep in the program (if not the entire athletic department) that scraping the whole thing is the only way to go.
Yes, people who were not involved are going to be affected but a message has to be sent & a very strong message at that.

I would support this. That gives the students an option and still lets the NCAA deliver punishment to the program. I don't think that I have heard that the death penalty would not be used again. I think that it has been used around five different times and I am sure that all of those programs also felt that they were too important to get this type of penalty. To give the death penalty to schools for what amounts to recruiting violations and misuse of money and to let Penn State escape for the crimes and coverup taking place around the rapes of young boys would make a mockery of the NCAA.

 

[mjantz]

Article regarding the death penalty and PSU

This author thinks it won't happen because the NCAA laws do not allow it.