Sexual Predators

Without trying to emulate the bulldog-like histrionics of outspoken and tireless advocate for victims’ rights Nancy Grace (a Fox News television personality), I feel the time has come to weigh in on the societal illness of sexual deviancy that defiles modern culture. With the sexual abuse scandals that have, in recent years, been reported in the Catholic Church, with the women school teachers who have seduced their young male students, with the incest and predation upon young girls that my wife and I learned of in our mission to a South Pacific nation (and the consequent highest suicide rate in the world) and with the frequent and horrible crimes perpetrated by male perverts reported in the media every day it appears that we have a systemic problem that poses grave danger to the future of our way-of-life.

I was saddened last night to learn of the immediate dismissal of Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno, one of my heroes, as part of the outfall of the child sexual abuse scandal perpetrated by one of his former assistant coaches. Coach Paterno, though innocent of wrongdoing himself, (he did immediately, as a mandated reporter, report to his superiors hearing the allegation against one of his former assistant coaches, Jerry Sandusky) got caught in the crossfire.

I believe that probably the only area in which Coach Paterno was culpable was stated in his own words to the media: “This is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight I wish I had done more.” In one way or another, sexual deviancy by perverts affects us all and may be the catalyst that brings down the wrath of God and the downfall of this once-great nation.

A thoughtful recent editorial (09 November 2011) by the Christian Science Monitor says this:

“Sometimes such concealment is justified to protect a victim of sexual harassment, rape, or similar violation. States, for example, don’t release the names of people who make rape charges. And employees who complain about sexual harassment or sexual advances often want to avoid making waves or hurting their careers over such disputes.

“Institutions in many cases try to uphold individual rights, whether it is a presumption of innocence or a right to privacy. But such rights must also be balanced against the interests of other workers and society in general if an accused is truly a potential repeat offender.

“Simply paying money for a sex allegation to go away or easing the accused out of a position can result in someone else paying the consequences later.

“Courts are well placed to find that balance between rights and the collective interest. But such a judicious approach falters when a private institution doesn’t even make an attempt at it. Instead, it is easy to put reputation, stockholders, donors, or other concerns ahead of individual rights or prevention of crime.

“Colleges and universities like Penn State have a particular problem with cases of alleged harassment or rape. Young people are often sexually active or unaware of social and legal barriers for gender behavior. When should a school, for example, handle a sex-related accusation itself, rather than take it straight to law enforcement? Are schools even capable of discerning false accusations or whether someone is a real sexual predator?

“Both the Penn State and Herman Cain cases should stir every private institution to review its procedures for handling sex-related accusations. And managers need regular training to live up to the complex Supreme Court guidelines for determining sexual harassment.

“Institutional self-interest must be avoided if there is to be justice for either the accused or accuser in a sex case, as well as protection for others.”

In my mind the greatest crime against life, in our time, is that of abortion, but the crimes of sexual abuse and molestation of children by adults ranks up there with kidnapping and slavery as beyond the pale of tolerable human behavior. I hope my readers will, with me, be among the voices ‘crying in the wilderness’ for these things to stop.