What are you talking about? Is American jurisprudence to be followed everywhere except THIS ONE CASE? I personally think the guy is guilty, but I will give him the presumption of innocence until he is convicted. Do you not know that the presumption of innocence is a huge cornerstone of our legal system? Why is that different here?
What is different here is Joe Paterno waited one whole day before reporting this horrific crime, not to the cops but to his boss, then sat on his hands for nine long years while rapes continued at other Penn State facilities with ABSOLUTELY no followup on his part. That is by his own admission, with the very weak excuse that he “should have done more”! Damn right he should have done more and nine years earlier too with the cops, not the wimps in his chain of command! Whatsa matter with you??
JC
What is different here is Joe Paterno waited one whole day before reporting this horrific crime, not to the cops but to his boss, then sat on his hands for nine long years while rapes continued at other Penn State facilities with ABSOLUTELY no followup on his part. That is by his own admission, with the very weak excuse that he “should have done more”! Damn right he should have done more and nine years earlier too with the cops, not the wimps in his chain of command! Whatsa matter with you??
JC
The standard that individuals use in validating the characters of other people is not so high as that which the state is required to use when prosecuting criminals. Suppose your child came home and told you that he had been fondled by his soccer coach? Are you going to apply the legal standard of "innocent until proven guilty in a court of law" to determine whether your son should continue to participate on that coach's soccer team? Of course not. You have a right and an obligation to evaluate that person's character based on the facts you have on hand. So far as his actually suffering criminal or other official sanctions for the alleged conduct, that falls under the higher standard.
You honestly can’t see how far out in left field you are, can you? If we really did things the way you think we do them (and we do not) then all those teachers in the news for diddling their students would be teaching up until the day of their convictions. We do not, have not, and we are not going to start doing things the way you mistakenly think we’ve done them. Your idea of the American way, ain’t.
Private citizens expressing their opinions are under no such constraint.