#23 - Joe Paterno, Penn State Scandal

The story of Joe Paterno's lack of leadership in the Penn State Scandal shocked me. As Paterno is seen as a 'God' of sorts in the US you would think that he would know right from wrong, especially when faced with such a serious situation. However, I don't think that Joe Paterno can be fully blamed for this as he wasn't the one that witnessed the assault. When the graduate assistant saw the assault in the showers, his first step may have been to tell the head coach, Joe Paterno, but if no further steps were taken, the assistant should have called the police himself. It is disgusting that Jerry Sandusky got away with sexually assaulting so many boys over the time period when Paterno knew about his secret. 1 in 6 boys are sexually assaulted in the US and 90% of the assaults are by someone the victim knows. These statistics are sad, but true. The foundation, Second Mile, set up by Sandusky for under privileged children gave him the perfect opportunity to groom and assault these boys.   This story never should have come out now. It should have been announced all those years ago when the first witnessed assault took place. It is extremely disappointing to be reminded that we have to be careful around people, even those that we trust so much as those are the people that can take everything away.