Oregonian taking a lot of heat from readers for this one. What do you think?

[zachpm]

Why we published Oregon State pitcher Luke Heimlich's felony conviction (Editor's Notebook)

A lot of the Twitter responses are critical of the timing, not the reporting.

 

[BurnsWhenIPee]

I think they're in the right. Horrible crime, and a marquee athlete. The question if the school knowingly brought a sexual predator on campus because he's a talented pitcher is a valid one.

A 6 year old? **** him and any kid glove treatment. It sounds like they didn't get the story and hold it for this week. They gave everyone a chance to comment, and everyone refused.

 

[Alma]

Here's the profile itself:

Luke Heimlich sex crime surfaces as Oregon State baseball nears College World Series

And a John Canzano column calling for Oregon State to make a "strong statement" and quoting Brenda Tracy, an advocate for sexual assault victims who was also a rape victim at the hands of several Oregon State football players in the late 90s.

Canzano: Making a pitch for decency when it comes to Oregon State pitcher Luke Heimlich

There's a lot to unpack. I'll say that. Heimlich is a public figure and he molested a girl at an age where it's unmistakable, his intent. It's public record.

Now...whether Oregon State should let him play is a different matter - even if I don't think Oregon State should, it's a different matter - and I think that matter kind of got intertwined into the Heimlich profile in a way that I would have preferred was more of a separate story. Maybe it was and I just didn't see it on the site.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

He's done.

Can only imagine the opposing team's fans chanting, "child molester" or worse while he pitches. And Oregon State fans would want to stand up for that? Don't see it. Probably not a case Oregon State officials want to go to bat for, either.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

The New York Post don't play.

 

[LongTimeListener]

I learned something very important in that story.

Research shows that the vast majority of juveniles convicted of sex crimes do not reoffend in subsequent years.

After about three years, the likelihood of reoffending is "very small," said psychologist Michael Caldwell, who lectures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

At five years, the recidivism rate for another sex crime hovers at 2.75 percent, according to a study that Caldwell published in 2016. That's because juvenile sex offenders tend to mature and respond well to intervention, Caldwell said.

Assuming Heimlich has matured as the vast majority of kids in these cases do, there is little chance that he poses a risk to anyone on campus or anywhere else. I hope we don't throw people away because of what they did at age 15, particularly when research shows they're solid candidates for redemption.

 

[QYFW]

The timing?

"Yeah, I know he's a child molester, but couldn't you have waited until after the CWS to print this?"

I can't see how anyone could have a problem with this.

 

[canucklehead]

Of course they could have waited to print the story but what if they held the story and some else stumbled across it and went with it. What editor is going to take that chance?
It was made pretty clear when we joined the newspaper business that scoops were good and if we had someone no one else had, it goes in right away.

 

[zachpm]

The timing?

"Yeah, I know he's a child molester, but couldn't you have waited until after the CWS to print this?"

I can't see how anyone could have a problem with this.

The Twitter comments generally accused the paper of sitting on this until the Super Regionals. The timetable that Katches outlines makes sense to me, though.

 

[Jake_Taylor]

I learned something very important in that story.

Research shows that the vast majority of juveniles convicted of sex crimes do not reoffend in subsequent years.

After about three years, the likelihood of reoffending is "very small," said psychologist Michael Caldwell, who lectures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

At five years, the recidivism rate for another sex crime hovers at 2.75 percent, according to a study that Caldwell published in 2016. That's because juvenile sex offenders tend to mature and respond well to intervention, Caldwell said.

Assuming Heimlich has matured as the vast majority of kids in these cases do, there is little chance that he poses a risk to anyone on campus or anywhere else. I hope we don't throw people away because of what they did at age 15, particularly when research shows they're solid candidates for redemption.

I was surprised by this, but then you think about how much developing the brain has left to do just in general, but in particular with sexuality, I guess it makes sense.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Who knew that a Heimlich maneuver would be so bad.

 

[QYFW]

The Twitter comments generally accused the paper of sitting on this until the Super Regionals. The timetable that Katches outlines makes sense to me, though.

Got ya.

 

[LongTimeListener]

Am I reading this correctly, that if the guy had done the required paperwork update this never would have come up?

 

[MNgremlin]

I get a kick out of the fact people think getting the documentation and trying to contact people now means we're "sitting on it." Were they supposed to do a BREAKING NEWS brief that day and then follow-up as news trickled in?

 

[QYFW]

Am I reading this correctly, that if the guy had done the required paperwork update this never would have come up?

That's how I read it.

 

[fossywriter8]

Am I reading this correctly, that if the guy had done the required paperwork update this never would have come up?

I'm guessing the incident and his admission would have come up because they would have been on file and would have been discovered during the background check.
The way I read it, the reporter did the normal background check which brought up the failure to file the paperwork, which led to the discovery of why the guy needed to file the paperwork.

 

[murphyc]

Am I reading this correctly, that if the guy had done the required paperwork update this never would have come up?

Yeah, that's the aspect that really disturbs me. I think OSU really dropped the ball on this one by not doing anything about him. Maybe they were hoping no one would check until after Heimlich was in the majors, if then? But it sure sounds like no one outside of the school and law enforcement would have known if Heimlich had done the annual notice.

 

[RickStain]

I dunno. It's a tough call. He was underage when it happened and I'm not convinced he's a danger to others, so there's not really any public interest being served by publicizing it. I wouldn't disagree too strongly with anyone who went the other way.

 

[Alma]

I'd like to circle back to a few things in the profile I found interesting. Had some thoughts about it...

First, the 2nd graf of the story:

A Benton County sheriff's sergeant, on a sweep to track down sex offenders who let their registrations lapse, located one at Gill Coliseum, the heart of Oregon State's bucolic campus. It was Luke Heimlich, the ace left-hander who statistically is the nation's best pitcher and is among the top prospects in next week's Major League Baseball draft.

This line is overwrought and pretentious. As you read later in the story, some cop cited Heimlich there; he doesn't actually live in the Coliseum. "Bucolic" is a ridiculous word to use anyway, but here it's a peculiar purpose pitch right out of a 48 Hours voiceover: In the heart of this sleepy campus lurks a sex offender.

****

The victim's mother said she does not keep tabs on Heimlich but knows he's one of the top players in the United States. She said her daughter was young enough that "she doesn't really remember everything that happened," but nonetheless has been ostracized from family events because most members of the Heimlich family have sided with Luke.

I read that and thought, huh? Why? Why would the family side with Luke?

 

[DanOregon]

The timing is unfortunate - considering the conviction happened five years ago when both were juveniles, but the Oregonian has a troubled history when it comes to sitting on stories of sexual misconduct of public figures. They sat on stories about former Sen. Bob Packwood and former Gov. Neil Goldschmidt and got burned both times by other news outlets.
I don't know where you "draw the line" on public figures who were juvenile offenders, High school athletes? Valedictorians? Lottery winners?

Oregon State finally gets some national attention for its baseball program and it's this...