IRVING, TEXAS – Scouting’s chief executive has issued an open letter after an investigation revealed hundreds of sex abuse allegations against Scout leaders—over the past century—that had never been reported to authorities.
Chief Scout Executive Wayne Brock said that the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) have taken measures to protect Scouts from predators, including instituting criminal background checks and a policy requiring that no Scout ever be in the presence of just one adult leader.
The admission follows an investigation by the Los Angeles Times which uncovered allegations of molestation against Scout leaders that date as far back as 1919. In hundreds of instances, there was no record to indicate that police were contacted. In other cases, leaders accused of abuse were permitted to provide false reasons for having left Scouting.
The co-called “perversion files” were kept by Scouting officials as a means of “weeding out” bad leaders, officials said. But the Times investigation found more than 125 men with “perversion files” had been able to access and prey on children by falsifying names, or taking advantage of poor protocols.
In June, an Oregon judge ruled that the files should be released to the public under the open records provision of the state’s constitution (with names of possible victims and whistleblowers redacted) –CLIFF DUNN