Annette John-Hall has...

been wondering a lot about role reversal lately. Since the Penn State scandal broke, I've been asking my girlfriends whether the alleged coverup would have happened if women had been in those jobs.
Clearly, an emotional chip was missing in the many men who kept silent all those decades about Jerry Sandusky's alleged crimes.

"I can't help but believe that the fact that we bear the children would make us ask, 'What is wrong with this child? What is wrong with this coach?' " says Michelle Bernard of the Bernard Center for Women, Politics & Public Policy.

A woman, Bernard adds, would never turn a blind eye, even if she only had an inkling that children were being harmed.

Never? Does this face look familiar?



Or this face...


Or these names... Andrea Yates, Susan Smith, Frances Knorr, Marie Noe, Myra Hindley, etc, etc. etc. No, a woman would NEVER harm a child. NEVER EVER!

As for these women:

Patricia Blackmon was 29 years old when she killed her 2-year-old adopted daughter in Dothan, AL in May 1999.

Kenisha Berry at age 20, covered her 4-day-old son with duct tape resulting in his death.

Debra Jean Milke was 25 when she killed her 4-year-old son in Arizona in 1989.

Dora Luz Durenrostro killed her two daughters, age 4 and 9, and her son, age 8, when she was 34 years old in San Jacinto, California in 1994.

Caro Socorro was 42 years old when she killed her three sons, ages 5, 8 and 11, in Santa Rosa Valley, California in 1999.

Susan Eubanks murdered her four sons, ages 4, 6, 7 and 14, in San Marcos, California, in 1996 when she was 33.

Caroline Young was 49 in Haywood, California when she killed her 4-year-old granddaughter and 6-year-old grandson.

Robin Lee Row was 35 years old when she killed her husband, her 10-year-old son and her 8-year-old daughter in Boise, Idaho in 1992.

Michelle Sue Tharp was 29 years old in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania when she killed her 7-year-old daughter.

Frances Elaine Newton was 21 when she murdered her husband, 7-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter in Houston, Texas. Update: Frances Elaine Newton was executed on September 14, 2005.

Darlie Lynn Routier was 26 in Rowlett, Texas when she was convicted of killing her 5-year-old son.

No doubt, they're all innocent of the crimes of which they were convicted and sentenced to death. Free them immediately.