<p>Apparently Sandusky was offered a plea deal last week, before the trial began, and refused it. The theory being that at his age, any sentence is basically a life sentence. Additionally, Sandusky (assuming the allegations are true, and it is nearly impossible not to believe that) is such a profoundly disturbed sociopath/pedophile that he really believes he hasn’t done a thing wrong. He isn’t thinking he’s getting away with it, he’s thinking nobody cares because he’s not doing something bad. </p>
<p>I’ve posted this before, but this whole horrifying mess is a cautionary tale for everyone. Child abuse advocates have told us for decades what grooming looks like, where pedophiles turn up, who and how enables the opportunities, and how children are very aware that they will not be believed if they overcome their terror and denial and TELL. But society doesn’t want to believe it happens. We want to all believe we would “know”, that we would do something, that we would intervene and the statistics simply don’t support the notion that it happens that way. </p>
<p>So, instead, we need safeguards like those annoying background checks your church wants, that irritating extra tent for all adults Scouts want, the myriad of inflexible “I can’t hug my students or take them to the bathroom” rules we gripe about. We pay daycare workers less than fast food people and wonder why we get uneven quality of care and potential disasters. We allow unscreened and untrained volunteers in every door because we don’t want to pay for program staff, or pay for training and oversight staff. We understaff CYS in virtually every state and wonder why the caseworkers can’t catch every demented adult who intersects a child. We excoriate witnesses, drag them through the mud over their lapses or inaction, and wonder why people are reluctant to come forward. </p>
<p>I was at a convenience store today in town, and someone asked the clerk to turn off the TV. And someone asked everyone to pray for the victims, and we handed around tissues, and tried to get on with the day. As if.</p>