BETWEEN THE LINES: Two Victories Against Child Abuse

— Verdicts last week in two criminal trials, one involving a former Penn State football coach and the other a Catholic Church official in Philadelphia, give hope that this nation can come to grips with predatory child abuse.

At least, these particular offenders are being held to account.

The former coach, of course, is Jerry Sandusky, a trusted assistant to the legendary Joe Paterno.

Sandusky was convicted late last week on 45 of 48 counts prosecutors have brought against him so far in connection with his sexual abuse and rape of young boys. There were other alleged victims but this trial was about just 10 boys Sandusky befriended and molested in locker-room showers and elsewhere, then threatened them not to tell what happened.

Sandusky, who will be sentenced later for his crimes, is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison.

Paterno, who was fi red from his longtime post as Penn State’s head football coach after allegations about Sandusky surfaced last year, died of cancer earlier this year. Trials are still pendingagainst two administrators at the university accused of failing to report the suspected child abuse.

The other conviction last week came against Monsignor William Lynn, who was head of priest personnel for the Philadelphia Archdiocese.

He was not accused of abusing anyone himself but of covering up the acts of pedophile priests by reassigning them to unsuspecting parishes and thereby putting more children at risk.

A jury found Lynn guilty of one count of felony child endangerment in the landmark case. He could face up to seven years in prison.

What these two cases have had in common with each other and with countless other trials of accused pedophiles are the gut-wrenching stories of the victims. They came forward as young men, foreverchanged by what happened in their childhood, to tell of assault and rape by people they trusted and to recount the fear and shame and pain that has followed them into adulthood.

The children were groomed by their respective predators, bribed and coaxed into sex acts, then threatened if they resisted or tried to tell.

Part of the challenge is recognizing when abuse has occurred to a child and finding a way to unlock what are naturally repressed memories. It’s a particular challenge when a child is convinced that no one will believe him, as some of Sandusky’s victims testified.

They tried to tell of the abuse but were ignored because of the ex-coach’s do-gooder reputation and popularity in the university community.

Why would anyone step forward, if there’s just more torment to come from the trial experience?

What these victims go through is terrible. Recalling the abuse is painful, as evidenced by their heartrending testimony.

They must do it, however, because sometimes people who abuse children or fail to act on suspected child abuse can be held to account.

Sandusky has been. A Catholic Church cleric has been as have many priestly pedophiles.

More off enders may be, thanks to such courageous accusers.

That’s the primary point made in a statement released after the Sandusky verdict by the National Child Protection Training Center.

The center, which exists to educate and train child protection professionals (social workers, educators, health care providers, counselors, law enforcement and court personnel), has a regional training center in Bentonville at NorthWest Arkansas Community College.

All about detecting child abuse, early intervention and better investigation of such crimes, the center’s statement rightly called us all out.

“When it comes to child sexual abuse, the United States has long been a nation of bystanders. We may or may not continue that pattern. At the very least, though, we are now a nation without excuse. “As a result of the courage of a handful of young men, we know how much our silence costs.”

BRENDA BLAGG IS A COLUMNIST FOR NWA MEDIA.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 06/27/2012

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