Prosecutors Want Penn State Fines To Fund Pennsylvania's Child Advocacy Centers
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Several Pennsylvania prosecutors held a press conference in Center City on Wednesday to request that the NCAA make the Commonwealth's Children Advocacy Centers a top priority when dishing out the $60 million in fines Penn State must pay as a result of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.
With colorful pictures on the walls, toys and smaller chairs, Children Advocacy Centers (CACs) are safe places, where children who may have been abused at one time can speak to police, social workers and psychologists. Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams says the centers prevent children from repeatedly reliving their abuse and begin healing. That's why Williams and the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association is asking that some of the Penn State endowment be directed to the centers.
"We'll let people who are better in math figure out how much," Williams said. "We want an earmark of this money directed specifically to advocacy centers across the Commonwealth because we know they work."
But there are only 21 CACs across the Commonwealth's 67 counties. Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Furman says they need money for more.
"Our children should not have to suffer simply because we can't get it together," Furman said.
Furman says prosecutors have written to the NCAA and Penn State and say the request was positively received.
