The concept of criminal failure to act is an interesting one in that in the one hand it tries to make persons to be orally and ethically responsible for the common good, on the other hand it attempts to restrict or stop criminal liability in situations in which the defendants have no control over (Sistare, 1989). The concept advocates for the understanding that the failure by someone to act in a particular situation results in the cat tagged as omission. In the case of the Sandusky rape case at the Penn State University; there have been debates on whether or not the Assist Coach McQuery was justified not take action by preventing his senior, Sandusky form molesting r raping the boy (Sistare, 1989). However, as the debate rages on, it is critical …show more content…
Well, there has been argument that it was absolutely moral and imperative to physically respond and intervene by stopping the sexual assault. Some critiques have gone as far as questioning why McQuery with his 6’5 size was unable to confront the assailant who was older (Sandusky, 2000). Others have gone as far as asserting the failure by McQuery to intervene was because of disinterest in child rape and as such, had it that Sandusky was beating the boy the he (McQuery) would have acted immediately (Sandusky, 2000). That is the born of …show more content…
That is because he was well aware of the sexual-abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky but did little to intervene probably with intent of protecting Jerry (Fiorillo, 2012). Given that Paterno was more powerful most well-regarded, most respected person on campus, he was the only person placed to take both legal and disciplinary actions against Sandusky. Sincerely, that was a failure on the part of Parteno both legally and morally for not intervening in the case (Fiorillo,
This story is a typical case of child sexual abuse with a male offender, Jerry Sandusky, who victims were aged between 7 and 13, and who had a close
The American legal system hears many cases relating to liability, but surprisingly, most of these cases concern the prosecutors within their own legal system. In the Supreme Court case Connick v. Thompson, a district attorney’s office denied liability for the extreme misconduct of its prosecutors. The Supreme Court decided that the D.A. office was not liable for the actions of their prosecutors because they did not have a pattern of Brady violations. Contrary to the decision in Connick v. Thompson, the D.A. office should have been held liable for the misconduct of its prosecutors. Brady violations appeared throughout the case, other cases of Brady violations in that D.A. office, and the office’s blatant neglect to properly train its prosecutors.
In February 2001 the football assistant Mike McQueary reported to Coach Paterno that he witnessed a sexual encounter between Sandusky and a 10 year old boy in the showers of the Lasch Building. Paterno met with Curley, Schultz and Spanier and they agreed to confront Sandusky. March 5 they met with Sandusky to inform him that they were uncomfortable with his behavior and he could not bring young boys to the facilities anymore. Curley reported the incident to the executive director of The Second Mile, which concluded it was a “non-incident” and took no action.
The article I read was called “Weekends in Jail for Rape? Why people get sentenced to ‘weekend jail’ by Corey Johnson” This article starts off with Molly Shattuck who raped a 15-year old boy in Georgetown, Delaware. The former Baltimore Ravens cheerleader walked out of the courtroom last week even after raping a 15-year old. She was only sentenced to “48 alterning weekends at the SussexVilation of Probation Center.”
Penn State football was once the pride of Pennsylvania. The Sandusky scandal changed all of that forever. The University had to learn many lessons. According to Layden, T. (2014), one of the biggest issues that caused the scandal to strive was the fact that those in charge probably felt the football program was too big to fail. In other words, they felt the success of the program was so important to the University and its fans that the scandal needed to be kept on a low profile.
On November 4, 2011 there was a grand jury report released with testimonies stating that Penn State’s Defensive Coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, had been involved in the sexual assault of at least eight different young juvenile males over a period of approximately 15 years that spanned from 1994 to 2009. There were also allegations that leading officials of Penn State failed to notify law enforcement after learning that some of the incidents had taken place (Viera, M. 2011). In 1977, Jerry Sandusky initially founded a group Foster home for troubled boys known as “The Second Mile.”
Collectively, they publicly sought to deny the existence of a crisis looming at Penn State concerning various allegations levied against Jerry Sandusky. While their true motives for denying allegations in the decade leading up to the crisis may never be known, it is apparent their strategy and actions played a crucial role in what now is unequivocally regarded as a ‘cover-up’ by Penn State University officials. Employment of this strategy was evident in the manner in which Paterno, Spainer, Curley and Schultz ultimately addressed allegations of Sandusky sexually assaulting a young boy on Penn State property in early 2002 – nearly a decade before the crisis erupted in the national
There are many influential items that were brought up during the trial that the judge used to impose his sentence. After a jury found him guilty of over 45 separate charges the sentencing process began, the judge made a statement regarding Jerry Sandusky's status in the community and the fact that he was able to become a predator without anyone knowing and was able to keep it covered up for so long (Bohm & Haley, 2014). The judge continued by also making sure that Sandusky knew the sentencing was being based on the facts brought up in court and that they are true beyond a reasonable doubt (Daily News, 2012). He also must consider the fact the way Sandusky not only committed these crimes but the way it occurred, such as how he abused the trust of the victims who at first had trusted him. These crimes that were committed were not committed against strangers and the judge makes a comment that just that fact makes this a whole lot worse than if it were actually being committed against a stranger (Daily News, 2012).
Sandusky started off by just touching the young boy. Eventually forcing him to engage in anal and oral sex. Once the boy turned 16, he had enough (pennlive). It was later reported that he performed oral sex 20 times, and the boy did it once to him. The boy, at age 18 later testified against Sandusky during his trial on 2011
The Freeh report showed several officials of the university knew about the allegations of Sandusky’s behavior as early as 1998. The report indicated president Spanier, vice president Schultz, athletic director Curley and head football coach Paterno knew of Sandusky’s actions and failed to report them to the proper authorities. Even though Paterno reported the allegations to the president, Paterno failed to move past the president and report to the Pennsylvania police or the Board of Trustees. Freeh declared most senior leaders at Penn State showed a disregard for the welfare of Sandusky’s child victims for at least 14 years empowered Jerry Sandusky to continue his sexual child abuse (Gessler,
At the end of the documentary, he adds how Joe Paterno and the other people that were around when everything started to begin should have protected those kids more. They could have done more than what they had done. Now some of them were left with nothing. (Happy Valley 1:20) All of these people were credible sources because they either knew Sandusky personally, worked on the case involving Sandusky, or was at the school during that time.
Jerry Sandusky is a sexual predator that used his influence in the community of State College to protect himself as he sexually assaulted ten boys over fifteen years(O'Neill, 2012). Most of the new information revealed is about the case as it went through the different stages of the criminal trial. The trial took place at the Centre County Courthouse and is seen as a necessary part of healing and moving forward for the victims of the sexual predator(O'Neill, 2012). Sandusky was successful at manipulating his victims, friends, and the circumstances which allowed him to take advantage of troubled youth that were partaking in programs offered by the The Second Mile(O'Neill, 2012). Sandusky met most of his victims through The Second Mile nonprofit organization and was able to manipulate time with his victims while appearing to be a father figure to disadvantaged children(Hobson & Boren, 2016).Throughout all of my research it amazes me how bold Jerry Sandusky became with his victims and coworkers while plotting his attack on his victims.
The Jerry Sandusky trial began in 2012 and was held in Centre County, Pennsylvania. Sandusky was found guilty on 45 of 48 counts and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in jail (Curry, 2015). The details of the case are horrific in nature, and worse is five men were made aware of the incidents and no action was taken to alert authorities. During the trial the victims were led through questions that all pointed toward the trust they had in Sandusky. The university is located in a small town setting where people work hard and have little; Sandusky reaching out to someone was considered a big deal.
In conclusion, as a future teacher, it is important to understand my responsibility to report any suspected child neglect or abuse. Even if my future student does not give me permission to report the incident, if the child is in danger, it is my responsibility to report. By keeping his promise of confidentiality to J.D., Dr. Pesce put J.D. in great danger. The student was in danger at school because of the misconduct of the teacher, and he was in danger outside of school because of his shame and suicidal thoughts and tendencies.
Introduction This question requires for an understanding on the rules and principles relating to criminal liability for an omission. As well as whether the rules and principles are too restrictive on individual freedom. In order to have an understanding of the rules and principles of omissions, one first must understand how criminal liability is imposed. For a person to be found guilty of a crime they must have both the mens rea and actus reus of the committed crime.