Preview

Influence of Moral Reasoning

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
381 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Influence of Moral Reasoning
Influence of Moral Reasoning
Author
CRT 205
Date
Daniel Lichtenhan
Influence of Moral Reasoning
During the Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse investigation, evidence that other Penn State officials knew about what had occurred and attempted to cover up the abuse by keeping the information secret. The top official Graham Spanier, president of Penn State at the time, bears the greatest responsibility for not reporting the crime.

Spanier had decided after conferring with the vice president and athletic director that the matter would be kept in house, and that they would confront Sandusky about the matter, knowing that this was not the right course of action and that it would hurt them if it were ever discovered that they knew what had happened. The cover up that Spanier lead covered more than just one incident, at least two times, one in 1998 and one in 2001, Spanier was aware of claims of the abuse.

Sandusky was not dissuaded by the confrontation with officials, and continued to abuse students. Had the right, the moral and the logical decision been made, many students would have been spared the abuse at the hands of Sandusky. Spanier and the others actions not only hurt students but Penn State as well, bringing shame to the school. Those involved in the cover up including Spanier now face criminal prosecution.

Had the decision been in my hands, I would have alerted the authorities to Sandusky’s actions. No one deserves to get away with such crimes. I know that it would have been a difficult decision to make, bringing such information into the public spotlight would have been embarrassing to say the least. I know though that I would have been making the right choice not only for the students, but for the school, my colleagues and even myself.

For me reporting the crime is the only moral thing to do. How could I live with myself knowing that I allowed a criminal to continue hurting those I am responsible for

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    There is a record to say that people did try to come forward and try to actually make some allegations and they were not believed because it was so difficult to believe that somebody with such status, power and authority would abuse this power and sexually abuse.…

    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Recruitment Violations

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages

    It is amazing how an isolated incident, such as the one at Colorado, can incite such a large frenzy and call for change. The scandal started with a former recruit telling his experiences during his college visit in Boulder at the University of Colorado. His stories included wild parties with unlimited amounts of alcohol and the open availability to sexual activity with the women of his choosing. The term used for these parties was "sex parties." After the recruit made his experiences public, other stories began to surface from other recruits who had similar experiences at Colorado and other schools. The situation came to a boil when a former female player accused some of her team mates of sexual assault at one of…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Crt/205 Week 8

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Focusing on the actions, not the abuse, select one person involved in this case(Assistant Coach/Athletic Director/State Attorney General/School President, etc.) and discuss the following:…

    • 629 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    3. Should this incident be limited to the class, or should the principal and parents be notified? I believe this incident should encourage a school wide learning situation, in which attention is brought to all students about the seriousness of sexual harassment. I also believe the principle should play apart in this event, as well as the parents. Not only the parents of those students involved in the incident, but all parents.…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Franklin V Gwinnett

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages

    On December 11th, 1990, Christine Franklin filed a lawsuit against the Gwinnett County Public School system. During her sophomore year in high school at Gwinnett High School, she was continually harassed sexually by her economics teacher Andrew Hill. Mr. Hill would kiss her, feel on her, and constantly try to engage in inappropriate sexual conversations with Franklin. Franklin first went to staff at the school. Nothing was done. Franklin told the administration on the Board of Education and they begged for no charges to be pressed on the school because they didn’t want a bad reputation or for the incident to publicize. Instead, Mr. Hill offered to resign from teaching if no charges were pressed, so the school looked past the whole thing.…

    • 436 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ray Rice Domestic Violence

    • 1680 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Upon the release of partial video footage of the assault the NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, banned Rice for two games without pay and fined him $58,000. Many felt that this punishment was insufficient and this message was continued to be reinforced through constant media coverage on the matter. This then led to Goodell revising the league’s policy on assault, battery, domestic violence and sexual assault, instituting a six-game suspension for NFL personnel who violate the policy once, and a lifetime ban for those who do so twice. Although the revision seemed like a step in the right direction, what was to follow was like fuel to the fire for the media.…

    • 1680 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    OL 500 Final

    • 4433 Words
    • 11 Pages

    In 2012, “former Penn State defensive coordinator Gerald “Jerry" Sandusky was found guilty of sexual abuse. He was accused of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period in a scandal that has rocked the university 's community” (Chappell, 2012, para. 1). When the story of Jerry Sandusky broke to the press, the University board believed the investigation currently underway at their university was solely concerning Jerry Sandusky, but unbeknownst to them, the organizational breakdown of Penn State was involved in the investigation as well. The investigation analyzed documents and conversations from Penn State’s leaders that spanned from 1998 to 2011. What came to light was that Sandusky, a renowned alumni of 32 years, ex-Penn State football coach, and an active member in youth charity programs, had been sexually harassing minors on and off university property. In addition, at various points during this time frame, leaders in various positions within Penn State’s organization knew of these accounts and did nothing about it. This report aims to focus on how the organizational culture as well as the breakdown in leadership responsibilities, aided in the allowance of such acts to continue at the university over the course of many years. In addition, it will target key solutions to prevent this type of tragedy and leadership oversight from happening again on Penn State campus.…

    • 4433 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Breaking down the case being highlighted here, Christine Franklin was a sophomore at North Gwinnett High School back in 1986. While attending that year, she claimed to have been sexually harassed by Andrew Hill, who was a coach at the school. Franklin claimed sexual activity was unsolicited and that Hill forced her into such acts. Hill was accused of engaging her in sexual conversation, in which he asked her of her experiences with her boyfriend and if she would consider having intercourse with an older man. Hill was stated to have kissed her forcefully, calling her at home, asking her to meet him socially, asking other teachers to have her excused from their classes. Most notably, he took her into a private office and subjected her to coercive intercourse.…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Penn State Scandal

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The grand jury had identified eight young boys that had experienced sexual advances or sexual favors by Sandusky from 1994-2009. There were at least 20 incidents that occurred while Sandusky was employed at Penn State. According to one of the indictments, Mike McQueary, who at the time was a Penn State grad student reported to Joe Paterno that he had seen Jerry Sandusky having intercourse with a ten year old boy. Joe Paterno then failed to report this incident to authorities. Joe Paterno, along with many of the Penn State University officials had tried to cover Jerry Sandusky’s acts which…

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are several ethical issues in the news lately about the treatment college athletes are receiving compared to the non-athletic students of universities. Is the practice of favoring athletes and bending the rules in the favor of universities to enable the best college sports stars to play ethical? Two major ethical issues that have been in the public eye as of late is cheating and grade tampering, and recruiting tactics. Both of these actions are unethical, but it still isn't stopping universities around the country to discontinue in these manners.…

    • 942 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    about some things yet he was never subjected to a polygraph test, his involvement in the…

    • 1477 Words
    • 1 Page
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    United States V. Nixon

    • 1546 Words
    • 7 Pages

    President Nixon acted as if he had no knowledge of what had happened and immediately promised the Senate Committee that this crime would be investigated immediately. Nixon then appointed a Special Investigator, Archibald Cox, as an independent Counselor to personally conduct investigations into the break in at the Watergate Hotel and Office Complex…

    • 1546 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    At Duncanville High School World History class the teacher Julie Phung had been lack in teaching her student all year. But one day student Jeff Bliss got fed up with her teaching strategies and decided to give his opinion about the way she teach and encourage her to teaching a different strategies that she learn them. If you can just get up and teach them instead of handing them a freakin’ packet, yo (Bliss, 2013). There are kids in here who don’t learn like that, they need to teach face-to-face (Bliss, 2013). This was not a set up but the student Jeff Bliss was tired and angry about the way he was learning so he did something about it. The students can benefits from teaching if you have effective strategies and teacher need to improve her way of teaching. Student Jeff Bliss will lose because he will get suspended and teacher will get view by the board. The position I take on this issue that student Jeff Bliss should not confront her in public but wait until after class in a calm voice. I believe she did great by telling him to leave but not saying that any student are waste her time.…

    • 1369 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Aaron’s main purpose and key point of his book is to be a voice for the voiceless and encourage those too afraid to speak out to take a bold step and speak up. We see that in the Epilogue where Aaron states “There can be no shame or embarrassment in speaking up” (p. 208). He wanted people to know that he is no longer a victim but a victor. He wrote of his hopes to gain a college degree, become a state trooper and go around the country as a spokesperson on the intervention and prevention of abuse. He wanted to share his story more personally than just being Victim #1 and to explain how it affected his life in all aspects. He gives examples of broken relationships, panic attacks, contemplating suicide and the inability to trust. Aaron wanted to show that there are faults in our criminal justice systems but that shouldn’t hinder victims from coming forward. It did take roughly three years after the report for Sandusky to be convicted! Another key point is that there are people who will stick by victims, believe them and provide support. This example would be Aaron’s mother and Mike. Another point inferred is that girls aren’t the only victims of sexual child abuse. To which the reader can obviously see that Sandusky, from what information is given, only targeted young boys. The final point would be that abuse shouldn’t define who a victim is and that victims can overcome their abuse like Aaron has been able to…

    • 501 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The vast majority of the victims currently coming forward allege that Jimmy Savile abused them. But detectives announced that they were mounting a full criminal investigation after some of the hundreds of people who have come forward in response to the unfolding scandal made allegations that they were abused by other individuals who are still alive. It is understood that most of these claims of sexual abuse relate to people who were associated with Savile in some…

    • 1162 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays