Sandusky Scandal Essay

The 2006 Duke Lacrosse Case brought to light many of the issues and divisions currently plaguing our media sphere. This terrible act of injustice, which blamed three innocent Duke lacrosse players, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans, for the rape of an African-American stripper, garnered extensive media attention that gripped America for almost an entire year (Wasserman, 3). Today, many scrutinze the media’s methods of covering the case, and deem that certain codes of ethics were not adhered to. Rather than remaining neutral, newspapers and TV outlets allowed themselves to “be used” by Mike Nifong, the former District Attorney for Durham and prosecutor of the case, by reporting

Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach for the Nittany Lions, was indicted on 40 counts of child molestation. As the investigation continued, it was determined that Sandusky had used his charity organization, the Second Mile, to track down and sexually abuse young boys interested in playing football. This horrendous abuse is thought to of started as early as the 1970’s, the time period Sandusky was only held responsible for acts that took place during 1994-2009. It is obvious that a very dangerous cultural element existed at Penn State. This culture of devotion, minimal blame and self-preservation. This is what seemed to drive the behavior at Penn State University, leaders, staff and the surrounding community. Good, healthy, productive behaviors cannot exist in a culture that doesn’t support them. Therefore, if you accept bad decisions, such as the ones made by the leaders at Penn State your promoting bad

Editor in-chief,. (2015). Sandusky sex abuse case continues to have impact on Penn State community four years later. The Daily Collegian. Retrieved 5 February 2017, from http://www.collegian.psu.edu/opinion/editorials/article_1454abbc-8667-11e5-817a-d7327b5d6e0f.html

"Joseph Miller testi ed that he was head wrestling coach for the elementary wrestling program for that school district. He knew Victim 1, who had wrestled for him. Miller corroborated that one evening in 2006 or 2007, he returned to the high school to retrieve something he had forgotten. He saw a light on in the weight room which should have been turned off and when he went in, he discovered Victim 1 and Sandusky, lying on their sides, in physical contact, face to face on a mat. He said both Victim 1 and Sandusky were surprised to see him enter the room. He recalls

Penn State spent millions maybe billions in lawsuits, not only defending the college but paid out to victims as well. They lost contributions from Alumni’s; the university lost advertising deals, the support of major companies such as General Motors. The football program was sanctioned and could not participate in some of their games.

Taking risks because of a higher amount of optimism, not taking warnings seriously, and being accustomed to not arguing against views within the college all contributed to the Penn State Cover up. When officials had doubts or differing ideals from those of others at Penn State, they simply kept them to themselves by self-censorship. In fact, head coach Joe Paterno knew as far back as 1972 about his assistant coach Jerry Sandusky being involved in molestation allegations and never brought allegations to light ("Penn State Scandal Fast Facts - CNN.com," 2016). The Clergy act requires college universities to report crimes on campus and the Department of Education fined Penn State several million dollars for not reporting misconduct on campus citing that they disregarded multiple reports of sexual abuse of a child and therefore helped a long time sexual predator. Unfortunately, the culture in the college football world puts the highest priority on the game. This lead to major collective rationalization,

Everything was looking good for Joe Paterno and Penn State football as his football managing career rose with an overall record of 298-136-3 but in 2011, all that changed. Back in 2000 a janitor of Penn State witnessed Sandusky receiving oral sex from a young boy, the janitor reported what he saw to co-workers and his supervisor but none of these men reported these actions to authorities. It wasn’t until November 5, 2011 that Sandusky was arrested on a $100,000 bail and up to 40 criminal counts. ESPN were quickly in the scene to investigate and report the allegations on Sandusky. They quickly reported saying Sandusky was charged with more than 50 counts of child sex-abuse involving 10 boys he met through The Second

After retirement, Sandusky was still active in “The Second Mile” and used the school's facilities for meetings and activities. There, he was seen allegedly sexually assaulting two different boys in two separate incidents in 2000 and 2002. An investigation was initiated by the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office into sexual abuse allegations against Sandusky in 2008. The investigation reached a new level of urgency when it became apparent that the allegations were not an isolated set of incidents, but that Sandusky had a strategy to abuse vulnerable boys. In 2011, Sandusky became infamous for allegedly committing numerous sexual offenses involving young boys. In October 2012, he was found guilty of 40 counts of sex crimes and sentenced to serve 30 to 60 years in prison, at his age, effectively a life

Aside from the allegations of child sexual abuse, the revelation of a cover-up and who actually knew of Sandusky’s behavior appears to be just as shocking. Through independent and Grand Jury investigations, a small circle of the most powerful people at PSU knew, for almost a decade, of Sandusky’s behavior and chose not to take appropriate actions to protect children from a sexual predator and concealed Sandusky’s behavior from the University’s Board of Trustees, the community and

Another boy was interrogated by Shreffler who reported similar treatment reported by the 6th Victim. But the investigation ends after District Attorney Ray Gricar decided the case warranted no criminal charges. Shreffler reported to the grand jury that Thomas Harmon, who headed the campus police, told him to close the inquiry. Subsequent investigative reported that Sandusky retired from Penn State's football program in the year 1999, but with an "emeritus" label that allowed him continued access to campus facilities, including the locker room and an office in the latch football

The FBI had stated that after conducting an investigation that these senior officials had known about Sandusky’s actions as early as 1998 and had failed to disclose this information to authorities. On October 9, 2012, Jerry Sandusky was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of 60 years in prison. Spanier, Curley, and Schultz have been charged with grand jury perjury, conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and child endangerment in association with the scandal. Paterno and McQueary never had any charges pressed on them because they did what they were obligated to do. McQueary had reported the incident to his superior which is Joe Paterno. Joe Paterno also reported the incident to his superior who is Curley and Schultz. This whole situation caused a huge reaction nationwide.

However, I would have to agree with the first half and say that Joe Paterno’s actions were inadequate. Although Joe Paterno reported what he saw to the Penn State president his responsibility shouldn’t have ended there. Yes, he fulfilled his obligation to report any illegal actions on campus but when the Penn State President chose not to take legal action Paterno should have made the moral decision and had gone to the authorities. Legally, he fulfilled his obligation and therefore no longer holds any responsibility in the eyes of the legal system. In the eyes of morality though, his responsibility in the matter was not over just because he reported it to who he was supposed to. This major problem should have been dealt with a long time ago. It’s just a moral obligation that Joe Paterno should have acted upon. So yes I feel he deserved to be fired. Everyone who knew about it should have reported it to legal authorities. His great athletic achievements and mutual respect should have pushed towards the issue being resolved and not swept under the rug for it to come out years after and now resulting in him being fired. Every action has a reaction and in this case the reaction is due to Paternos lack of action.

According to Johnson (2012) leaders are powerful role models, and policies will have a little effect if leaders do not follow the rules they set. In Enron case, corruption and ethical misconduct were deeply embedded in their business culture where profitability was more important than ethics. In this paper, I will address the factors that had led to the development of the culture of profit before principle at Enron. Also, I will create my personal code of ethics that will guide me in my professional and personal decision making and doing the right thing when faced with ethical challenges.

“People are inclined to think that a sex offender is a sex offender – that they commit one type of crime (Okada.p.190).”

In 2002 the Catholic Church was rocked with scandalous reports of Priests sexually molesting young children and particularly boys. The scandal is the result of numerous investigations, allegations, arrests, trials, convictions and imprisonment of Catholic Priests. It became largely reported that once trusted and respected Catholic Priests were pedophiles. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) categorizes pedophilia as a mental disorder if the sexual fantasies or urges involve prepubescent children , if they last six months or longer, if the individual has acted on them, or if they cause marked distress” (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).