( CNN ) -- Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky has been sentenced to a long prison term for sexually abusing boys , and for many people , this means that justice has been done . But in the complex crime of child sexual abuse , `` doing justice '' is rarely as simple as convicting and locking up the offender . For most victims of sexual abuse , sending the offender to jail is not the most important thing . Their top priority is to be believed , to receive an apology or to restore their sense of trust . Sandusky 's victims may have been accorded belief , but the apology does not seem forthcoming , at least from Sandusky . And the sense of trust often takes a long time to repair . For the communities and families damaged by disclosures of sexual abuse , wounds continue to fester long after the cell door closes . There are almost always many who feel guilt or are blamed for having allowed the abuse or for mismanaging the situation and causing avoidable pain . The justice and mental health systems often do n't do enough to help with all this collateral damage . But `` doing justice '' also means preventing future harm . Many victims ultimately come forward to prevent other children ( sometimes their own siblings ) from becoming victims . Law enforcement believes that putting abusers away for a long time keeps the community safe . But while convictions and incarcerations do prevent some future offenses , it is naive to think that we can prosecute our way to child safety in this crime . For example , a third of all child sex offenses occur at the hands of other youth ( PDF ) , and these crimes are not likely to be prevented by greater incarceration , in part because few of these juveniles have records that would have allowed authorities to intervene . The key to real prevention is awareness and education . There is no question that the Sandusky case has advanced these goals . Certainly , campuses all over the country are reviewing their standards and educating their staff members to make sure it `` wo n't happen here . '' But the Sandusky case also reminds us of how much more we potentially have to do . Nearly 50 years after mandatory reporting laws came into effect and 10 years after the priest abuse scandal , highly educated and well-meaning professionals still fail to do the right thing . Here are some changes that should be on our prevention agenda : . • Make abuse prevention , detection and management prominent in the curricula of graduate education in all human service fields . • Create off-the-shelf abuse prevention guidelines and educational materials that small and large youth-serving organizations can adopt and disseminate without a lot of expense . • Provide evidence-based prevention education for children and youth at all levels of the educational system . • Through schools , libraries and pediatricians , give parents the skills and vocabularies for talking about abuse with their kids . Finally , we need to see justice in these cases as a process , not just an outcome . Convictions may be obtained , but victims and families are left battered . Studies suggest that most cases with child victims take far too long to resolve in the legal system . Many victims and families complain that they are n't kept up to date on what is happening in the case and why . Victims ' identities are often not protected . Investigative interviews and procedures can be intimidating and exhausting . Helpful mental health and support services are not readily available . At the same time , much is being done to make the process more victim-friendly . Child advocacy centers are being established all across the country . Law enforcement is being trained in child development skills and sensitive interviewing practices . Judges are being admonished to speed cases along . But we still have a long way to go before we can close cases like that of Jerry Sandusky with confidence that `` justice was done . '' The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of David Finkelhor .
Former football coach Jerry Sandusky got long sentence for abusing boys . David Finkelhor says abuse leaves collateral damage that is difficult to address . Penn State scandal has shaken faith in U.S. justice system. Writer : Youth groups , schools , libraries should disseminate guidelines for prevention .