Penn State and the Death Penalty

Please forgive me for being a few days behind in the 24/7 news cycle. The NCAA sanctions against Penn State are pretty much old news at this point, but I thought the NCAA’s swift and decisive stance in the case deserved a quick mention of praise. Was their punishment perfect? I do not think such a perfect punishment exists in a case like this.

However, I am somewhat surprised at the sentiment -- at least among some student-athletes who I spoke with about this that are here on campus this summer -- that the punishment was too harsh. What, exactly, did you want the NCAA to do? They had to do something, right? The reason the NCAA is justified in its harsh treatment in this case is because of the lack of institutional control at Penn State. Institutional control: That’s a big point in the world of the NCAA.

Do student-athletes and others, who had no direct or indirect connection to the scandal, get punished for crimes or cover-ups of which they were not a part? Of course they do! Collateral damage is unavoidable in situations like this.

A lot of people were calling for the “Death Penalty” for Penn State, shutting down the football program indefinitely. That would have done even more collateral damage. Again, while there was no perfect punishment in this case, I would submit that the NCAA did an admirable job here. Of course, this is subject for debate, as is this: When talking about the Death Penalty and the Penn State scandal, how about we include in the discussion the possibility of the real death penalty for the abhorrent monster sitting in jail for committing these atrocities? Something to think about.