“These (offenders) are not milling around looking like monsters. They are like all of us, they do a lot of good things, people love them, and then they have this other behavior that hurts people,” says Deborah Rice, executive director of Stop It Now, a nonprofit aimed at preventing child sexual abuse.

One common misconception about sex offenders is that they can easily be spotted.  People have a tendency to want to believe they can easily protect themselves from the “obvious” child predator.  Unfortunately, what many parents fail to appreciate is that many sexual offenders lead otherwise ordinary lives “like us”.  They have jobs, hobbies, families, community ties and more.  In fact, it’s those very ties that provide sex offenders with access to children. 

Many sexual offenders intentionally develop and maintain close relationships with the adult family members of the children they have targeted.  By garnering a position of trust, they can more easily manipulate and abuse their victim and deceive the victim’s parent.  

Deborah Rice comments that sex offenders “are like us, they do a lot of good things, people love them…” 

1.) How would you react if you learned that a family member or close family friend had been abusing your child or somebody else’s child?
2.) Do you believe Paterno had a duty to report the alleged sexual abuse when he first learned of the abuse?
3.) Would you report sexual abuse allegations to the police to further investigate even if you didn’t believe the allegations?
4.) Do you think the position of trust that many sex offenders garner makes it more difficult for victims to come forward?
5.) How often do you think victim disclosures are viewed with disbelief based upon who they have reported to be the alleged offender?