Child Abuse | featured news

Convicted child sex offender Jerry Sandusky will face sentencing immediately after an October 9 hearing to determine if the former Penn State football coach is a sexually violent predator, a judge said on Monday.

Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky has been recommended for designation as a sexually violent predator, a legal status that would require lifetime registration with authorities, according to a person who has read an assessment board's report to a judge in the case. The recommendation from the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board was disclosed to The Associated Press on Thursday by the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the report's confidential nature.

Ousted Penn State president Graham Spanier and his lawyers attacked a university-backed report on the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal on Wednesday, calling it a "blundering and indefensible indictment" as they fired a pre-emptive strike while waiting to hear if he'll be charged in the case....

A Delaware physician accused of waterboarding his 11-year-old stepdaughter says he is being persecuted by authorities because of a 2009 doctor abuse scandal in the state. Dr. Melvin Morse tells The Associated Press that he is the victim of what he called hysteria following the prosecution of pediatrician Earl Bradley. Bradley is serving 14 life sentences for abusing scores of his young patients over more than a decade.

A witness interviewed by federal authorities claims convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky and a Penn State booster sexually assaulted boys on a private plane, according to an exclusive RadarOnline report.

Los Angeles Times review of Boy Scout documents shows that a blacklist meant to protect boys from sexual predators too often failed in its mission. For nearly a century, the Boy Scouts of America has relied on a confidential blacklist known as the "perversion files" as a crucial line of defense against sexual predators.

Joe Paterno is dead and so is what was left of his good name, shredded to pieces by investigators who didn't seem terribly impressed by anything the coach once did on Saturday afternoons....

Of four former top Penn State employees accused by an independent investigation of concealing sexual abuse by Jerry Sandusky, one is dead and two are facing charges of perjury and not reporting abuse. The fourth, former university president Graham Spanier, remains on the Penn State staff and hasn't been charged.

The allegations are similar to those made against a top Philadelphia archdiocese official who was convicted on child endangerment charges last month.

Joe Paterno and other top Penn State officials hushed up child sex abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky more than a decade ago for fear of bad publicity, allowing Sandusky to prey on other youngsters, according to a scathing internal report issued Thursday on the scandal... After an eight-month inquiry, Freeh’s firm produced a 267-page report that concluded that Hall of Fame coach Paterno, President Graham Spanier, athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz “failed to protect against a child sexual predator.”