On Tuesday night, Dr. Drew and his guests took a look at the tough questions everyone has been asking since the Penn State child sex abuse scandal broke last week:
Question 1: Would you have intervened?
“What we really need to do is step up to the plate and empower the children to be able to say no to these people,” said Ed Smart, whose daughter, Elizabeth, was abducted by a known child sex offender.
Clinical psychologist Michelle Golland weighed in with her thoughts: “It is this bystander effect...we don't empower enough for other people to intervene in a dangerous or frightening situation -- and we have to,” she said.
Smart says he doesn’t place blame on the child, of course, but emphasizes that children need to learn how to speak up.
“I've had several people in the past say, 'You can't put the responsibility on the child,'" he explained. "Well, that just isn't true. It is the child being abused and the child needs to know where those limitations are. When somebody makes them feel uncomfortable, say ‘no’ and know what options and choices there are. We are just not providing the skills and opportunities for our children to be able to say 'no.'”
Question 2: Did the students initially care more about football?
“It was loyalty that moved to insanity -- that's what it was," said Heath Evans, an advocate for victims of childhood sexual abuse. “We are all loyal. That's what makes football great...they couldn't get past what Joe Pa (Paterno) has done for the school and what he did for the victims, or lack of.”
Dr. Drew added that he had been talking to Penn State students recently, noting how they've finally come around. But he asked his guests if we were uncovering something bigger about how college university administrations function.
“I don't think there's any question about it,” said criminal defense attorney Trent Copeland. “We don't have to look far. Look to the Catholic diocese. It’s an institutional problem and the problem is that they become so insulated, so within their own world, their own realm of how they operate and function, they have their own governmental entities.”
Question 3: How could the alleged predator’s family not know?
“I think back at the times I saw Jerry Sandusky around children,” said Jerry Fisher, a former board member at Sandusky's charity, The Second Mile. “He is a very amiable guy, a guy that had a lot of fun with the kids and a lot of fun with adults. There were many gatherings and everybody had a lot of fun, adults and children alike. I have been told child molesters are manipulative -- know how to make things work to their advantage. He just was very good at what he did. If the allegations are all true, he had a lot of people very fooled throughout his career.”
Copeland said that the "average molester molests to the degree of about 117 victims. We have eight or nine in this instance. I expect more. The reason for that -- they're so good at what they do. There's a grooming period. There's a process of manipulating the children. They give them gifts, take them places, [and] make them feel good. Typically, those people begin to associate with them on a positive level for that reason. Some don't always report it.”
Question 4: Why do alleged pedophiles gravitate towards coveted institutions?
“I think there's really only one reason,” Evans said. “There's just more pickings. I know that sounds bad and insensitive. Good pedophiles find the weaker ones they can manipulate.”
Copleand added: “I think there's the issue of there being institutional safeguards and protections in place built in -- mechanisms they can take advantage of. Look, you go and there are protections and policies and procedures. They embed themselves in those policies and procedures, they get protections. There's a hierarchy. They find themselves at the top...so they really sort of get there and are able to nest. They get there and can groom the young kids.”
Question 5: Did the alleged victims’ families miss warning signs?
“[We need to] give our kids voice and let them know they're empowered in a way to come to us -- be honest," Evans said, "even if it sounds a little weird.”
“And adults, we need to keep our voices loud to protect children,” Golland added. “Our culture has to change. This is a paradigm shift. I really believe that this is a monumental moment that if we use our media power and our society, we can actually make great change.”
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