Our Opinion

OUR OPINION: PSU SCANDAL

November 9

Why not report wrongdoing ASAP?

THE UPROAR radiating from Happy Valley across Pennsylvania this week sounds awfully similar to the public fury unleashed when Luzerne County’s kids-for-cash scandal came to light in 2009, and with good reason.

The situation in State College – concerning the alleged sexual crimes of Jerry Sandusky, the Penn State University football program’s former defensive coordinator – involves many of the same elements:

• A leader in the community has been accused of betraying people’s trust, indeed, using his high-profile position to inflict harm.

• Children reportedly were the victims.

• Individuals, including many in positions of authority, seemingly failed to respond appropriately to stop the behavior and to report their suspicions to law enforcement.

The latter point, in particular, piques our curiosity.

What is it about certain people – especially people operating within an institution or workplace – that inhibits them from speaking out when they witness or obtain knowledge of possible wrongdoing? For psychology majors, this is dissertation-type material. Beyond the unfolding Penn State scandal, the question could as easily apply to child sex abuse cases within the Catholic church, financial misdeeds on Wall Street (which contributed to the U.S. economy’s collapse) or the suppression of children’s constitutional rights in Luzerne County’s juvenile court.

Is self-preservation an adequate explanation? Fear of retaliation?

As recently as Friday, ex-attorney Robert Powell expressed remorse for not speaking out and possibly derailing the juvenile justice scheme before it ever developed. “I was also wrong not to report this to the authorities right at that moment,” Powell wrote in a letter to the sentencing judge. “I had the ability to stop this travesty and I did not.”

It often takes courage to be the first to alert authorities to unethical or illegal behavior, be it perpetrated by a co-worker on the other side of the cubicle wall, your corporate bosses or a friend. But the ramifications of staying silent are typically far worse.

Witness the far-ranging damage occurring at Penn State to reputations, relationships, careers and – most significantly – to the affected youths and their families. If only someone had blown the whistle sooner.

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