Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil* UPDATED

"I should have done more."

I profess no special knowledge of the sordid, sad, unbearably tragic events over the last several weeks at Penn State. The news accounts and talk-show discussions paint an especially disturbing portrait of a popular, talented and vile assistant preying on children. While prudence suggests a caveat - all of the individuals charged or suspected of wrongdoing are afforded the legal presumption of innocence - experience suggests more.

I worked as a child abuse detective for a short period in the mid-nineties. A temporary assignment, I got what can only be described as a chilling glimpse at the nastiness of sexual crimes against children. The offenders weren't readily identifiable (no raincoats or boxes of chocolates), were known to the victim and often justified their acts using variations of the phrase "he/she wanted it." Many of my closest friends passed through the Crimes Against Children unit, staying only long enough to gain investigative experience before accepting reassignment or promotion. The day my boss let me go back to my original gig (crimes committed by juveniles) was one of the best of my career.

Two things struck me while reading about the Penn State situation.