Police: Paterno Did Not Do Enough

[Dr. Cheese]

Police: Joe Paterno didn't do enough to stop sexual abuse scandal - College Football News | FOX Sports on MSN

This sounds as bad as a church scandal.

[burk48237]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

Police: Joe Paterno didn't do enough to stop sexual abuse scandal - College Football News | FOX Sports on MSN

This sounds as bad as a church scandal.

What Paterno did was clearly illegal. When you are approached with or witness child sexual abuse and you are an employee of a school system you are legally obligated to report it. Telling "school officials" was not enough, he was required by law to report it.

[fhm555]

Originally Posted by burk48237

What Paterno did was clearly illegal. When you are approached with or witness child sexual abuse and you are an employee of a school system you are legally obligated to report it. Telling "school officials" was not enough, he was required by law to report it.

Not trying to defend anyone involved, but the article says Joe properly discharged his legal obligation to pass the info up his chain of command and wouldn't be charged. The people who remained silent further up the food chain however, are being charged for not reporting it.

Sad to be confronted with the fact that letting sleeping dogs lie was good enough for him after insuring his legal obligation had been satisfied, but apparently that was the case.

[bassguppy]

The state police commissioner must be planning on running for higher office.

If I'm an employee of a school, university, etc...& I report an allegation up the chain of command isn't that the usual protocol for most employers? Otherwise said employer may have cause to dismiss you. Not that they would dismiss Joe Paterno but any other schmuck with no clout that could happen.

---------------------------------

update:

I found the Grand jury report online & I see no wrongdoing on Joe Paterno's part. A graduate assistant per the report witnessed the perp (Sandusky) in the football team shower with a young boy (victim #2) on a Friday in 2002. The grad asst called his own father for advice on what he saw. His father said it must be reported & the grad assistant contacted & met with Joe Paterno on a Saturday morning. Coach Paterno contacted the Athletic Director & Senior VP at Penn State to meet on what the grad asst. witnessed & met on Sunday. That's the last contact or involvement that Joe Paterno had.

here's the PDF Grand Jury report.

http://www.attorneygeneral.gov/uploa...resentment.pdf


.

[jp58]

The lead attorney for the prosecution has maintained that Paterno did everything he was supposed to do. The timeline for the case has also skewed most people's idea of what has happened so far, and what should've happened. The surprise resignation by the 2 guys being charged and a few other various school officials leads me to believe that it was most certainly the fault of those higher up the food chain.

Paterno reported the incident as it was laid on his desk by a graduate student/assistant. It isn't like he saw the event himself. It was his job to pass it up so that a proper investigation could be launched by the proper authorities. It's also worth pointing out that he has been completely cooperative with the investigators, something that guilty parties typically don't do. Everything else is speculation at this point.

[MJ5150]

This is unfortunate that people are pointing fingers at Paterno now. He appears to have followed administrative procedures as directed.

We have procedures where I work as far as reporting abuse of patients or staff. All incidents are to be reported to our risk management department, who will then initiate the investigation and contact law enforcement, state offices, etc as necessary. So I guess you could say I didn't do enough either if I heard of a co-worker assaulting a patient and I reported it to risk management immediately instead of calling 911.

-Mike

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

This is unfortunate that people are pointing fingers at Paterno now. He appears to have followed administrative procedures as directed.

We have procedures where I work as far as reporting abuse of patients or staff. All incidents are to be reported to our risk management department, who will then initiate the investigation and contact law enforcement, state offices, etc as necessary. So I guess you could say I didn't do enough either if I heard of a co-worker assaulting a patient and I reported it to risk management immediately instead of calling 911.

-Mike

Paterno is a special case because although he reported to his "superior," Joe Paterno is the real boss at Penn State, and everyone knows it. If Paterno had wanted this to move more decisively, it would have happened. The AD and VP fell on their swords for JoPa.

[Gaius46]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

Paterno is a special case because although he reported to his "superior," Joe Paterno is the real boss at Penn State, and everyone knows it. If Paterno had wanted this to move more decisively, it would have happened. The AD and VP fell on their swords for JoPa.

I would think a criminal matter like this, especially given the nature of the allegation should have gone up to the executive management of the university. Are you suggesting that Paterno outranks the university president?

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

Paterno is a special case because although he reported to his "superior," Joe Paterno is the real boss at Penn State, and everyone knows it. If Paterno had wanted this to move more decisively, it would have happened. The AD and VP fell on their swords for JoPa.

He may be the "boss" of the football program, but he surely has a chain of command that must be followed when reporting serious matters such as this. Again, it really is unfortunate that people are now deciding to pin some blame on the man who followed department procedure. He is a football coach, not in the legal department.

How would you have handled it differently if in your current position you are required to report all employee/student/customer abuse to your department head?

-Mike

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by Gaius46

I would think a criminal matter like this, especially given the nature of the allegation should have gone up to the executive management of the university. Are you suggesting that Paterno outranks the university president?

When it comes to real world clout, he outranks everyone at Penn State. Paterno did not have to call the police himself, but if he knew he details, he certainly could have made it clear to the administration that he wanted the matter pursued vigorously.

[bradjonesbass]

Legally, he did what he needed to do... Morally and ethically, not so much, IMHO. He should have followed up and pushed it, and if nothing was reported to CPS or the police, he should have reported it. Also, this is not the sort of activity an old man suddenly takes up in his retirement years, so I have to wonder how long Sandusky had been doing this, how many other victims there are, and how much people (including Paterno) knew about it...

[DWBass]

While Paterno may have dropped the ball 'slightly', he did report it. If he never said anything, I would find him liable. I don't see why folks are focusing on Paterno though! Why are folks always so quick to smear peoples reputations! What's the 'real' issue here? How about we focus on that!! SMH!

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

He may be the "boss" of the football program, but he surely has a chain of command that must be followed when reporting serious matters such as this. Again, it really is unfortunate that people are now deciding to pin some blame on the man who followed department procedure. He is a football coach, not in the legal department.

How would you have handled it differently if in your current position you are required to report all employee/student/customer abuse to your department head?

-Mike

No one is legally at risk for calling the police if that person suspects a crime. I have been and am currently a regular faculty member. I was also a department chair for six years. Of course, there is a procedure for contacting the appropriate departments if I suspect something, but I also have the option of calling the police, and letting them know what I saw. I would be on firm legal ground if I did it. Frankly, the graduate assistant who saw what happened could have called the police, but he was certainly in a much weaker position.

I will say that as a tenured professor, I am a bit safer from on job retaliation (but not completely) than most employees. Once again, Paterno is a legend, and if he made noise over being mistreated, he could really make life miserable for anyone who tried to retaliate against him.

[MakiSupaStar]

Originally Posted by DWBass

While Paterno may have dropped the ball 'slightly', he did report it. If he never said anything, I would find him liable. I don't see why folks are focusing on Paterno though! Why are folks always so quick to smear peoples reputations! What's the 'real' issue here? How about we focus on that!! SMH!

This. I read this article a few days ago and my first thoughts were why the extensive reports on this guy and not the focus on the coach's buggery?

[bassguppy]

Originally Posted by DWBass

I don't see why folks are focusing on Paterno though! Why are folks always so quick to smear peoples reputations! What's the 'real' issue here? How about we focus on that!! SMH!

The State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan (who has held public press conferences with his entourage of police behind him for a photo shoot) is an appointed POLITICAL position.

Yes, these charges must be pursued vigorously but to purposely state publicly "although Paterno did follow the law doesn't he have a moral responsibility?" Who is this asshat to score oblious political points? Probably not a Penn State fan.

I'm sure this cop has higher office aspirations.

[bassguppy]

Originally Posted by bradjonesbass

Legally, he did what he needed to do... Morally and ethically, not so much, IMHO. He should have followed up and pushed it, and if nothing was reported to CPS or the police, he should have reported it. Also, this is not the sort of activity an old man suddenly takes up in his retirement years, so I have to wonder how long Sandusky had been doing this, how many other victims there are, and how much people (including Paterno) knew about it...

per the Grand Jury report, Paterno was involved with victim #2 where he met with higher ups 2 days after the incident to advise them of the accusation back in 2002. He then had no further involvement. There are (i think) 8 victims per the report dating as early as 1998.

[aborgman]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

How would you have handled it differently if in your current position you are required to report all employee/student/customer abuse to your department head?

-Mike

I would report it to my department head... AND the police. Every time.

[aborgman]

Originally Posted by DWBass

While Paterno may have dropped the ball 'slightly', he did report it. If he never said anything, I would find him liable. I don't see why folks are focusing on Paterno though! Why are folks always so quick to smear peoples reputations! What's the 'real' issue here? How about we focus on that!! SMH!

Apparently Sandusky was still working out in the Penn State football weight room as of last week.

I'm pretty sure Paterno has the power to ban him from there.

[bradjonesbass]

Originally Posted by bassguppy

per the Grand Jury report, Paterno was involved with victim #2 where he met with higher ups 2 days after the incident to advise them of the accusation back in 2002. He then had no further involvement. There are (i think) 8 victims per the report dating as early as 1998.

If I were a betting man I'd bet there are victims going back to the 70s and I'd bet they're going to start coming out of the woodwork now, although men tend not to admit to being sexually abused due to embarrassment and "manhood" concerns...

[burk48237]

Originally Posted by :hyper:

Not trying to defend anyone involved, but the article says Joe properly discharged his legal obligation to pass the info up his chain of command and wouldn't be charged. The people who remained silent further up the food chain however, are being charged for not reporting it.

Sad to be confronted with the fact that letting sleeping dogs lie was good enough for him after insuring his legal obligation had been satisfied, but apparently that was the case.

I'm not even sure of that.

JoePa was confronted with a child sexual assault either immediately after or while it was occurring (an assistant ran into the Joes office after he saw it occur). He referred the matter to University authorities, he didn't call campus security, or law enforcement. This would be a bit like seeing a known arsonist start a fire and emailing the fire marshals office about it the day after while the fire is raging unreported.

And the sad thing is JoePa knew he already had a problem with this coach (he had been banned from using off-campus facilities with kids) and yet he still allowed him to be alone with kids on the Penn State campus. I would call that a gross dereliction of duty.