Child Abuse, Scandal | featured news

Flowers and mementos left by supporters adorned Joe Paterno's gravesite Tuesday, a year after the longtime Penn State coach's death, while at the spot where a bronze statue of him used to stand, a makeshift sign of cardboard flapped in a cold wind....

Amid reports of widespread sexual abuse of children in the late 1980s, several leading youth organizations began conducting criminal background checks of volunteers and staff members. Big Brothers Big Sisters ordered the checks for all volunteers starting in 1986. Boys and Girls Clubs of America recommended their use the same year. One of the nation's oldest and largest youth groups, however, was opposed — the Boy Scouts of America.

Former Penn State President Graham B. Spanier was charged Thursday with hushing up child sex abuse complaints against Jerry Sandusky, making him the third school official to be accused of crimes in the alleged cover-up.

Jimmy Savile was one of the best-known faces on British television. So how was he able to become one of the country's worst child sex predators without ever being caught?...

The child abuse scandal that has enveloped one of Britain's most respected news organizations is now hitting one of America's, as the incoming president of The New York Times is on the defensive about his final days as head of the BBC. Mark Thompson was in charge of the BBC in late 2011 when the broadcaster shelved what would have been a bombshell investigation alleging that the late Jimmy Savile, one of its biggest stars, was a serial sex offender.

The British government warned the BBC on Wednesday that a growing sex abuse scandal was raising "very real concerns" about public trust in the broadcaster. The BBC has been thrown into disarray by accusations that it helped cover up sexual abuse by one of its former presenters, Jimmy Savile, and has struggled to explain why one of its own programs dropped an investigation into Savile last year.

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.

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.”

Jerry Sandusky will ask that his child sex abuse case be dismissed after a judge said his request for specific information was "moot.''