http://articles.philly.com/2012-07-11/news/32619857_1_sexual-abuse-gary-schultz-face-charges-tim-curley
This article is written by Daniel Filler about the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal at Penn State. Jerry Sandusky was able to use his postion at the university’s football program and a non-profit organization he started to sexually abuse children for decades. The scandal blew up in the middle of this past college football season and resulted in the trail and conviction of Sandusky. This piece is a opinion editorial where Filler says “Over the past two decades, advocates, the media, and politicians have stoked public fears about sexual abuse. The resulting panic has had serious consequences.” This op-ed captures everything that we have been discussing in class in regards to moral panic, stigma, and the shortcomings of laws passed by our society. Filler sums up the failures we submit ourselves to by writing “Over the past 20 years, society has approached sex crimes with unbridled passion and anger. This emotional search for justice is entirely appropriate in particular cases; that is one purpose of sentencing. But when the same intense feelings become an engine for policy-making, they may undermine the crafting of effective laws.” We witnessed this same exact circumstance when we watched Witch Hunt in class on Wednesday. Filler also touches on the public shaming and ineffective responses to sexual crimes, “It has subjected all sexual offenders to greater stigma and, more importantly, has led to a complex array of laws that dramatically increase the costs of conviction even for less serious sexual offenses. In some states, a low-grade sex offender faces greater repercussions than a murderer.” I agree with much that Filler wrote in this article, but changing public opinion and policy in regards to sexual crimes is extremely dangerous to a politicians career in politics. What does everyone else think?
Andrew Conyers
