The horror story coming out of Pennsylvania involving a former Penn State coach and his alleged sex crimes is a salutary reminder to everyone involved in youth activities that the obligation to report obvious wrongdoing does not stop with the organizational chain of command. If you see something really bad going on, call the cops.
Jerry Sandusky himself is almost certainly toast. If the witnesses discussed at length in the grand jury report -- a graduate assistant and a janitor -- testify at trial, Sandusky will be painted into a corner. If the alleged victims come forth with details, and those details can be corroborated, he will be trapped by his own evil.
The two Penn State administrators are in a different spot, however. It's likely they had no legal obligation to report what they heard to the police. The attorney general seems to think they did, but usually that obligation runs only to people who had some direct responsibility for the youth being victimized -- nurses, doctors, teachers, institutional staff. Defense counsel seems confident that the athletic director, for one, is not in that category.
The perjury charges against them are very serious, of course, but that could come down to a he-said, no-he-didn't argument. The graduate assistant says he reported very specific and totally unlawful physical conduct between Sandusky and a child. The adminstrators say all they heard about was "horsing around," whatever that it.
The university, for its part, took the report seriously and banned Sandusky from bringing children from his program to the Penn State campus. But they did nothing else. Protection of the program trumped any protection of the children.
Anyone involved in youth activities these days has it drilled into them that suspicions of child abuse should be reported to the organization sponsoring the program. Reference is usually made to a obligation to report to the civil authorities as well. Often, however, little guidance is given and the individual is left on his or her own to make a painful decision that could lead to an unncessary investigation of an innocent person and, one fears, a lawsuit aimed at the person who reported him. No wonder people are reluctant to drop the dime.
If a person merely has suspicions, or has seen what he regards as signs and portents, but not actual behavior, then perhaps it is appropriate to try to work it through the unofficial system. But anyone who sees the type of outrageous conduct witnessed in the shower room by the graduate assistant should, first, break it up, and then dial 911. Let the adult explain to the police what he was doing in there.
Child abuse, including sex abuse, is a serious crime. If you saw someone hitting people over the head in the street, you'd call the police. Same for an adult taking advantage of a child.