Penn State Scandal: Joe Paterno Is an Accessory to the Crimes of Jerry Sandusky

With the knowledge we have of who knew about Jerry Sandusky's despicable actions, it's clear there are several people who had an idea what was going on but never reported it to police. Joe Paterno is one of those people who is an accessory to these alleged and heinous crimes.

The writing was on the wall, staring the Penn State coach in the face, and he did nothing.

Paterno was notified of what Sandusky was caught doing in the showers in 2002 and reported it to the higher-ups at the university.

Most likely, you'll hear his supporters say Paterno did what he was legally obligated to do. But sometimes, that isn't good enough.

Sometimes you have to do what you're morally obligated to do. Morals always transcend the law because of the intricacies and loopholes in our justice system that allow people to get away with crimes.

So what was Paterno's moral obligation? To get these allegations of Sandusky's alleged behavior to police. Now, one would also argue that once Joe Pa reported this to the university, the onus is simply on them to get the police involved.

Here's where that argument falls flat.

Serious allegations such as the ones Paterno reported need to be followed up on, especially when they are going on in the college of which you are the face.

Paterno failed to notice not only a lack of an investigation into his former assistant coach, but also failed to realize that Sandusky was running an overnight football camp for children on campus grounds. Clearly, no one followed up on his complaint.

Instead, Paterno did exactly what his higher-ups did—ignored it and swept it under the rug. No questions asked—he just reported it, and washed his hands of it.

Paterno's inaction after learning of the 2002 incident helped lead to Sandusky abusing more young children. Unfortunately for Joe Pa, by definition, he is an accessory to these crimes.

He certainly did his legal obligation (which was not enough in this case) and has done nothing illegal by law, but he has failed miserably by the law of morality.

It's a shame that the NCAA Division I wins record, once held by coaching great Eddie Robinson, is now held by a morally bankrupt human being. If it was Paterno's family involved, he would have followed up on it without question.

Paterno will soon be leaving his job, never to return to the sport again. His legacy will certainly be tarnished in the eyes of those who aren't blinded by sports accomplishments.

It's time for Penn State to clean house in their football program and fire anyone involved, whether directly or indirectly with this scandal. It's a shame that many good people who had no idea this was going on, and may have reported it properly had they known, will lose their job for the irresponsibility of others.

However, the cleaning of their program will be the first step on the road to recovery for Penn State from this black eye that will forever haunt this university.

In all this debate about who to blame, we can never forget about the many victims of this, many of whom we may not even know yet. This is about them and getting justice for the injustices that were forced upon them.

And apart of getting that justice for these victims is sorting through the myriad of people who had an idea this was going on and never did all they could to stop it.

Shame on them, including Joe Paterno.

@michaelmoraitis