UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition
Editorial
Yesterday helped.
The sentencing of former PennState assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky and its accompanying media coverage sharpen the focus of the criminality of sexual abuse and its consequences for society at large.
Nothing returns a sexual abuse victim’s normal childhood and for their testimonies about what was so viciously and cruelly taken from them, the survivors of Jerry Sandusky deserves everyone’s gratitude for their courage.
Justice has been served but no one should believe that this solves the problem of sexual abuse in sports – or in the Roman Catholic Church and other denominations – or in the Boy Scouts. Secretive, powerful, hero worship laden organizations are fertile ground for perpetrators.
Children are protected only when strong, clear messages, like the Sandusky sentence, are sent. Then and only then will those who have been raped and sodomized feel that there will be more comfort than censure from the world if they do find the strength to come forward.
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