So, unless you live under a rock – which I occasionally do – you have heard all about the alleged Penn State / Jerry Sandusky child molestations. People have been blogging, tweeting, and ranting on Facebook about it. Did he do it? How could he have gotten away with it? Should Joe Paterno have been fired? Did those that knew what was going on do enough to stop it? (Clearly they didn’t or it wouldn’t have gone on as long as it did – involving as many kids as it did.)
I’m kind of waiting for more evidence to come in and for conflicting stories to get ironed out. People do get wrongly accused of things all the time but his pleas of innocence aren’t really that convincing. I don’t know, I wasn’t there, but, as a survivor myself, I will almost always listen to, and believe, the victim of perpetration not the one who did the perpetrating.
Obviously, I am going to have very strong feelings about the sexual abuse of children. It happens, it’s unthinkably despicable and those that do it deserve serious punishments and need serious help.
At this point in the discussion surrounding the Penn State molestations, here is what most disturbs me: People are actually arguing over whether or not the reporting of abuse should be mandatory – whether it should be a legal or just a moral obligation. How can it not be looked at as both?
Morally, it says a lot about both an individual and a society that could witness the abuse of a child and then turn around and question, wonder, hem and haw, hesitate, debate or walk away from immediately stopping the abuse and reporting it to the proper authorities. And by proper authorities, I do not mean a bishop or pastor or school administrator with little to no training. I mean THE POLICE. Sexual abuse is a crime. Rape is a crime. Too often crimes are reported to the wrong parties who don’t believe, downplay and cover up to keep whatever secrets, peace and status quo they feel needs keeping. Every time a victim of abuse is not believed, not listened to and not given the help they so desperately need, they are victimized all over again by the person turning a blind eye and a deaf ear.
We do not exist on an island. We are all affected by what happens to our fellow human beings. When a child is abused, and doesn’t get the help in healing from that abuse, the consequences are dire for our society. Why do you think that there are murders, rapes, crimes, bombings…? Do you think those atrocities happen because the perpetrators were protected and cared for and had childhoods filled with love and warmth and nurturing and hope? No. There are exceptions to that rule. There are those that are born with imbalances and disorders that lie far beyond the help and control of their parents, who act out in horrible ways despite never having been abused. This post isn’t about what causes people to do horrible things.
My point is this – the sexual abuse of children is a crime and it should be both our moral and legal obligation to stop it the moment we are aware of it and report it to the police.
In the name of Kick Ass Heroes everywhere,
Amen
7 comments:
Couldn't agree more! My neice was molested by her stepfather who fortunately is now in prison. After it was reported, he tried to pin it on my neice which upon hearing made me even more irate since he's the fornicating adult! It's sick!
Amen, sister.
I'm also a survivor. My perp's sins were hidden and buried by church authorities. He eventually molested over 150 children.
That's 150 children, 150 families, 150 tragedies, 150 potential suicides... people too many to number who live with the fallout created by one selfish bastard, covered up by "righteousnous".
How many victims did Penn State help create???
I have often thought about what would have happened if these "coaches" were women.
Interesting comment, Anonymous, please expound. What do you think the difference would be if the coaches were women?
In theory it seems a good idea to mandate reporting. Until one considers that two thirds of those presently required to report fail to do it.
“….it's a mistake to think that the failure of Penn State authorities to report the abuse is a rarity....Studies over the past two decades nationally have consistently shown that nearly two-thirds of professionals who are required to report all cases of suspected abuse fail to do so....."I think that we fail miserably in mandated reporting," said Monroe County Assistant District Attorney Kristina Karle...”
http://tinyurl.com/6tuf76j
The fact that two thirds of those presently required to report don't does not argue against making reporting mandatory. What that says to me is that there is a lot of reluctance to report even when it is mandatory. All the more reason to make it mandatory and attach penalties to not reporting. My daughter reported to me that her best friend had told her she was molested by her father and a brother. I know this family well and did not want to believe it, but I didn't see this girl making it up. My daughter didn't want me to report it to CPS because her friend had told her not to tell anyone, not even me. I told my daughter she had a day to convince her friend to tell the school counselor (who was mandated to report so it would be reported) or I would report because her friend being mad at her was not as bad as her friend being without protection. We need such reports to be mandatory so people who know the perpetrators don't have to, never mind get to, decide whether to investigate precisely because it is such a difficult thing to grasp and respond to.
At 8:19pm on July 13, 2011 I unexpectedly wrote "holy shit" in a Facebook chat session I was having with a friend of mine in response to something he wrote. Several years earlier he was serving as a LDS young adult unit leader where one of the young adults came in telling him of a childhood experience where their Bishop had sexually molested them. The church had covered it up, including sending a GA up from Salt Lake to quietly let the kids know they would be just fine and this particular young adult's parents didn't even know. Now they wanted to talk to their parents who were out-of-state and asked my friend to facilitate such a phone call conversation. My friend called both parents and they would be together in an hour to talk to their young adult child. In the meantime my friend called church headquarters for guidance. Within 10 minutes my friend got a call from President Monson personally (then the 1C to Hinckley) telling him to not let the young adult talk to their parents. My friend disobeyed and as a result a child molester was brought to justice - i.e. kids talks to parents, they call police on their old Bishop, police investigate, indictment, trial, conviction. As a result Monson was pissed and ordered Packer to get my friend ex'ed. Due to the stubborness of one of the Apostles agreeing with my friend the Twelve decided to drop the matter altogether. Nevertheless my friend was soon afterwards fired from his church leadership position. To this day the First Presidency and Twelve have not apologized for the coverup they coldly did on letting this ex-Bishop (though ex'ed) roam free in society w/o scrutiny.
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