The Penn State bombshell exploded on November 4, 2011. That’s when court documents were posted online indicating that Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant football coach, would be charged with 40 counts related to sex crimes involving minors.
Since then, Jerry Sandusky has been convicted and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. Graham Spanier, the Penn State president, Gary Schultz, a vice president, and Tim Curley, the athletic director, were all charged with crimes related to an alleged cover-up of Sandusky’s predatory actions. They are awaiting trial.
Joe Paterno, the legendary Penn State football coach, was not charged with anything. Paterno died on January 22, 2012. Shortly before that, he gave an interview with Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post. After reading it, I posted an article on the Lovefraud Blog (Joe Paterno and ignorance of evil) stating that “yes, I can believe that Joe Paterno was clueless.” Many Lovefraud readers posted that I was wrong—that Paterno had to know what was going on.
Six months later, Louis Freeh, former director of the FBI, was retained by Penn State in an effort to discover what actually went wrong. On July 12, 2012, Freeh released a scathing report of his investigation into the sordid sex scandal. The executive summary stated;
Four of the most powerful people at The Pennsylvania State University—President Graham B. Spanier, Senior Vice President-Finance Gary C. Schultz, Athletic Director Timothy M. Curley and Head Football Coach Joseph V. Paterno—failed to protect against a child sexual predator harming children for over a decade. These men concealed Sandusky’s activities from the Board of Trustees, the University community and authorities. They exhibited a striking lack of empathy for Sandusky’s victims by failing to inquire as to their safety and well-being, especially by not attempting to determine the identity of the child who Sandusky assaulted in the Lasch Building in 2001.
Wrong and wrong again
I posted an article about the report on the Lovefraud Blog (With the Penn State report, a public understanding of unbelievable betrayal). In it, I admitted that I was wrong about Joe Paterno. “Even I wanted to believe,” I wrote. “Six months ago, I wrote an article postulating that maybe Joe Paterno really didn’t know what Sandusky was doing, that he couldn’t conceive of such evil in his midst. Obviously, I was wrong.”
Well, now it seems that I may have been wrong when I said I was wrong.
The family of Joe Paterno released a report last week that blasted the Freeh report as “a rush to injustice.” This report, released on Paterno.com, had its own cast of heavyweights as contributing authors. In an overview, the law firm of King and Spalding wrote:
We conclude that the observations as to Joe Paterno in the Freeh report are unfounded, and have done a disservice not only to Joe Paterno and to the Penn State University community, but also to the victims of Jerry Sandusky and the critical mission of educating the public on the dangers of child sexual victimization.
Critique of Freeh report
I read the expert report contributed by Jim Clemente, a former FBI profiler and expert in sex crimes investigations, sex offender behavior, child sexual victimization and child pornography. He makes a very convincing argument that the Freeh report got it wrong.
Watch the Clemente video and download the report here
The full report is almost 100 pages long. I recommend that everyone read Section III, “Behavioral dynamics of acquaintance child sex offenders, which is seven pages long (pages 10 to 17 in the pdf). In it, Clemente explains:
- “Nice-guy” child sex offenders are much more prevalent, effective, and prolific than the stereotypical “stranger danger” type offender.
- Offenders who “groom” typically seek out needy, isolated, or disadvantaged children and provide both emotional and tangible things to fill the needs of those children.
- Children who are groomed into sexual victimization typically do not call out to be rescued or disclose when questioned about possible victimization because of a complex set of social and psychological factors.
- People tend to demonize the offenders to an extreme, calling them “evil,” “monsters,” and “predators,” such that they don’t want to believe that anyone they know could possibly be that evil.
- The combination of nice-guy acquaintance offending, coupled with the “conspiracy of silence” by victims and “compliant victimization,” is why Paterno did not know that Sandusky was really a child molester
In a careful point-by-point analysis, Clemente explains why he believes Paterno did not know what Sandusky was really doing, and why he was not involved in a conspiracy. Clemente talks at length about the 2001 incident in which former quarterback Mike McQueary saw Sandusky in the shower with a boy and reported it to Paterno. Clemente basically says that McQueary—himself traumatized by what he saw—did not clearly articulate that he believed Sandusky was engaged in a sexual assault, and relied only on innuendo. And because Paterno had known Sandusky for 30 years, and was such a well-known prude (Paterno’s family reported that he thought the old TV show The Love Boat was too racy), the old guy didn’t get the hint.
In the end, the report points out the shortcomings of the Freeh investigation in order to clear Joe Paterno’s name. It says Paterno was not part of a cover-up, although it does not make that statement regarding Spanier, Schultz and Curley.
Flip flops
I’m not the only one doing flip flops about this case. Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike, initially supported Joe Paterno. But after the Freeh report was released, he took Paterno’s name off of a child development center at Nike headquarters. Last week, Knight blasted the Freeh report. According to SportsIllustrated.cnn.com:
“When this tragic story first unfolded Joe cautioned all of us to slow down and carefully gather the facts before jumping to conclusions,” Knight said in the statement. “We owed it to the victims, he said, to get to the truth. It was counsel we all should have followed.”
In the final analysis, Jerry Sandusky was proven a predator in this case—but beyond that, I’m not sure of anything. And I think that’s the takeaway lesson for all of us.
“Nice guy” sex offenders and other sociopaths are all master manipulators. They manipulate not only their victims, but the people around the victims, law enforcement and other authorities, institutions and the media. When sociopaths are involved, figuring out the truth is always going to be difficult.
Finding the truth
The truth is hard to find when we are directly involved in a case. When we are only reading about situations, either in the mainstream media or here on the Lovefraud Blog, there are endless opportunities for misinformation and misinterpretation. When reading an article, for example, the information we get is limited by what the reporter decided to include. Our opinions can also be influenced by how a reporter slants a story.
We always need to be cognizant of the fact that reading words on a page or screen is an extremely limited form of communication. Experts know that 65% to 90% of the meaning of human communication is nonverbal—body language, tone of voice, facial expressions. When you’re reading information, therefore, 65% to 90% of the meaning of the communication is missing. So what do we do? We fill in the blanks with what we want the communication to mean.
After having been burned by a sociopath, and determined not to be fooled or conned again, we are likely to see more evil intentions than we did in the past. In fact, we may see evil intentions where none exist. Yes, approximately 12% of the population have serious personality disorders that make them exploiters. But that still means 88% of the population is not disordered.
Now we know that sociopaths exist. So now, I think it’s important to stay alert, but be cautious in passing judgment. There may be many facts that are unreported. There may be reasons for any situation. Unless we are directly involved, and sometimes even when we are directly involved, we may not have all the information we need to evaluate the truth of any given story. It’s a good idea to pause before reacting.
Wow, thank you everybody. I appreciate everyones thoughts and value all of everyones insight and encouagement. Its really hard to have any time away from her at all, because we do not have a support system here. And I see a social worker, case manager, and a lisenced professional counseler through a parenting organization. Unfortunately, she is always with me for these and every other appointment. Also, I am encouraged to think of something positive about her dad, because nobody is “all bad.” I dont have someone who “gets it.” Im going to see if I can get her into part time daycare maybe 4 days a week or so depending on what is recommended for follow on care next wwek. Thats when I do phase 2 of an assessment with the VA counselor and we have talked about an out patient ptsd program. I agree that her seeing me upset so much causes insecurity and I also agree that hiding emotions is unhealthy/pointless because even when I put on a brave face, if im truly upset, she knows anyway. Im doing the best I can and all of this upheaval and change truly was out of concern for both of us and our well being. Its just tough right now and im lonely alot of the time. But I do things like take her to the library, story time, the la leche leauge meetings (im a leader applicant!), we go to the free days at the zoo and the childrens museum. I honor her every request for chinese noodles for dinner 🙂 I am going to try my best to curb thenegative emotions in front of her. I definitely dont want her to feel unsafe or uncertain. She, too, as someone pointed out here, has been through massive changes and had a lot of familiar people disappear. She misses grandma and even though my mom is a raging N, I still let her talk to her bc she doesnt know grandmas evil side and I dont want to abruptly end that relationship for the peanut. Today is a better day, and we are going to go to the childrens museum after nap. I will focus more on the present moment, as suggested. I look at pictures of her from last year and know how short this time is.
LPMarie…..TOWANDA to you – it takes tremendous courage, resolve, and adamant to recover and you’re taking absolute control of your own recovery.
Yeah…..the “encouragement” to find something positive about the spath is foolish and whomever suggested that does not “get it.” UGH……
Have a BLAST at the children’s museum, LPMarie!
Brightest blessings
LPMarie,
It sounds like you are filling your precious baby girl’s life with lots of good activities and good memories….those are the things she will remember-doing them with mom!
I would just like to add that while I can understand the view that mothers want to be careful of adding anxiety to their child’s life…that it is a lesson in life itself;life is full of anxiety-pretending that life is easy doesn’t prepare the child for what’s ahead,although it needs to be done in ‘doses’.Love is what gives your child security.And you are giving your child lots of lovin’!It is good that your peanut is learning empathy at a young age!
Sorry this is a bit now out of context but I do not agree with any individual in Paterno’s camp regarding his involvement, be they family, friends, legal counsel or Jim Clemente.
The following is a direct quote from the Freeh Report:
Curley emails Schultz and Spanier and says he [Curley] has changed his mind about the plan “after giving it more thought and talking it over with Joe [Paterno] yesterday.” Curley now proposes to tell Sandusky “we feel there is a problem” and offer him “professional help.” “If he is cooperative we would work with him to handle informing” the Second Mile; if Sandusky does not cooperate, “we don’t have a choice and will inform” DPW and the Second Mile. “Additionally, I will let him know that his guests are not permitted to use our facilities.”
Joe Paterno knew what was going on — he just refused to take proper action. The entire Penn State University sport program was his fiefdom, not just the Football. Nobody was hired, fired, promoted or demoted without his knowledge.
“After having been burned by a sociopath, and determined not to be fooled or conned again, we are likely to see more evil intentions than we did in the past. In fact, we may see evil intentions where none exist. Yes, approximately 12% of the population have serious personality disorders that make them exploiters. But that still means 88% of the population is not disordered.”
Donna makes a good point here but I take a slightly different view. First, I applaud the statement that 12% of the population have a serious personality disorder — too often the focus is upon the 4% who can be clinically diagnosed as having Anti-Personality Disorder.
Add in other “toxic” individuals such as alcohol and drug abusers and this number can easily rise to 33%.
Prior to my experience with a sociopath, I knew little of the disorder and generally had a positive attitude toward people, albeit a cautious one, mostly toward those who displayed outward signs of Narcissism or substance abuse. Still, I never thought that so many people are toxic.
I don’t believe I see evil where it does not exist; rather, I am knowledgeable of those traits that make people toxic and understand that many such people can be highly successful, even lauded by the public and media.
Regarding Paterno, the basis for my skepticism regarding Jim Clemente’s “expert opinion” is that Paterno demonstrated a life-long commitment first to himself has head coach, second Penn State University and PSU a distant third. He built a cult of personality whereby the growth and success of the University was seen primarily due to Joe Paterno and not the billions invested by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
He continually preached about “doing the right thing” and was quick to point out the failings of other football programs. As the father of three sons, I cannot accept that he would find it appropriate that a grown man would shower with young boys, during which have physical contact. Thus, when faced with a difficult situation, he fell back on his values: Joe Paterno first and Penn State Football second.
Jerry Sandusky’s crimes were enabled not by Joe Paterno’s naivety but by his narcissism.
BBE I pretty well go along with your reasoning and I can’t blow holes in it at all. I believe Paterno “knew” that inappropriate things were going on and he DID NOT ACT. WHY he did not act can only be surmised, but the fact is, he KNEW and he DID NOT ACT APPROPRIATELY according to every law in the universe, morally or legally.
We can only surmise that he did not act in order to protect the “good name” of the friend and the school…just like the Catholic church and many other religious groups and social groups have kept their mouths shut for centuries. Even the wives of some offenders knew and did nothing. A recent report on abuse inn Scouting in the 1960s showed that when the man was caught his wife was informed and he was sent to a mental institution for a few days and when he came home he started abusing his children, both male and female. His wife stayed with him.
So the covering up is nothing new, just a continuation of what has gone on for centuries.
BBE,
Exactly.
That’s what I wrote here, last year:
http://180rule.com/penn-states-fall-from-grace/
Blue Jay and Louise,
I heard you were worried. I’m here. just been taking a break.
Louise, if you want I can help you register. Just email me using the contact form under the “About 180Rule.com” tab.
skylar,
I’m glad you’re okay.
What bothers me about Paterno (and his supporters) is hiding behind a mask of grandfather-like charm and accomplishment.
If all this occurred in the 1970s or prior, I would give him some slack. But the Church abuse scandals were well-publicized throughout the 1990s; therefore, Paterno could hardly be “shocked” that such abuses could happen, even by supposedly “moral individuals of high standing in the community.
Since Jim Clemente was hired by Paterno’s family, his assessment cannot be viewed as objective.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=171652170
I like this quote frm the article BBE linked too
Not that you can blame the family for trying. The legacy that Paterno so carefully built up over 46 years as head football coach at Penn State was left in tatters by the scandal, and they’re trying desperately to restore his good name.
What they don’t understand is that Joe Paterno is not the real victim here. What he lost in the final months of his life surely pains the family, but it was the cult of Paterno itself that created the atmosphere that allowed a monster like Sandusky to roam freely.
The young boys who were sexually abused by Sandusky are the true victims. They’re the ones who pay every day of their lives, while trying their best to erase terrible scars that just won’t go away.
I THINK THAT SUMS IT UP PRETTY WELL