Boy Scouts release secret child abuse files -- 'the pain and the anguish of thousands'
Boy Scouts to release 'perversion files'
Boy Scouts to release 'perversion files'
Secret files document decades of sexual abuse. Susannah Frame reports.
By Miranda Leitsinger, NBC News
Updated at 6:45 pm ET -- More than 1,200 formerly secret Boy Scouts’ files detailing accusations of child sex abuse within the organization from 1965 to 1985 were published online Thursday by lawyers, one of whom who said the documents revealed an unintentional but “de facto cover-up of abuse.”
The documents, known as the “ineligible volunteer” files within the organization, were ordered released by the Oregon Supreme Court. Media organizations had sued for the release of the files, part of a 2010 case in which a Portland, Ore., jury decided that the Scouts were negligent in allowing a former assistant Scoutmaster to associate with the organization's youth after he admitted molesting 17 boys.
“While we can read through the files, for us it represents the pain and the anguish of thousands of untold Scouts,” said attorney Paul Mones, who litigated the 2010 case on behalf of victims in Oregon with lawyer Kelly Clark. “While there are 1,247 files, we know that each Scout leader (accused of molestation) molested on the average more than one Scout.”
The attorneys called for Congress to audit the Boy Scouts, which is a congressionally chartered organization, to ensure that the group was following its current policy to protect children from abuse. Boy Scouts National President Wayne Perry said later Thursday the organization welcomed any additional examination by authorities.
Greg Wahl-Stephens / AP
Portland attorney Kelly Clark is shown Tuesday with some of the 14,500 pages of previously confidential documents created by the Boy Scouts of America concerning child sexual abuse within the organization.
The files, which can be accessed on www.kellyclarkattorney.com, represent reports of Scouts allegedly abused by more than 1,200 different Scoutmasters and other adult volunteers across the country.
“You will see in the files over and over again where there is a concern that this material not get out … this will make Scouting look bad,” Clark said. Alleged offenders were also being “given second chances,” he added.
“In too many of these individual situations what happened was a de facto cover-up. I don’t believe that anybody woke up and conspired and said, ‘How do we create a system that would cover up child abuse?’ But when they put the interest of the organization ahead of the safety of kids pretty soon they were engaged in a de facto cover-up of abuse,” Clark said.
In one of the files, a Cub Scout leader was said to be caught sleeping in the nude with boys on a camping trip and showing them pornography.
“The response from the national organization … says: ‘I will agree that sleeping nude and showing boys pornographic books indicated very poor judgment in dealing with Cub Scouts,'” Clark said, reading from one of the documents. “'I do not know, however, that this is a serious enough offense to refuse registration anywhere he might try to register unless there are more instances.'”
In another, a Scoutmaster who admitted to “acts of perversion with several troop members” in 1972 was put on probation though he had submitted his resignation letter. It’s not clear from the documentation if he indeed maintained the post, but one Scout Executive wrote about the situation a few months after the first report:
.
Boy Scouts to release 'perversion files'
Boy Scouts to release 'perversion files'
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By Miranda Leitsinger, NBC News
Updated at 6:45 pm ET -- More than 1,200 formerly secret Boy Scouts’ files detailing accusations of child sex abuse within the organization from 1965 to 1985 were published online Thursday by lawyers, one of whom who said the documents revealed an unintentional but “de facto cover-up of abuse.”
The documents, known as the “ineligible volunteer” files within the organization, were ordered released by the Oregon Supreme Court. Media organizations had sued for the release of the files, part of a 2010 case in which a Portland, Ore., jury decided that the Scouts were negligent in allowing a former assistant Scoutmaster to associate with the organization's youth after he admitted molesting 17 boys.
“While we can read through the files, for us it represents the pain and the anguish of thousands of untold Scouts,” said attorney Paul Mones, who litigated the 2010 case on behalf of victims in Oregon with lawyer Kelly Clark. “While there are 1,247 files, we know that each Scout leader (accused of molestation) molested on the average more than one Scout.”
The attorneys called for Congress to audit the Boy Scouts, which is a congressionally chartered organization, to ensure that the group was following its current policy to protect children from abuse. Boy Scouts National President Wayne Perry said later Thursday the organization welcomed any additional examination by authorities.
Greg Wahl-Stephens / AP
Portland attorney Kelly Clark is shown Tuesday with some of the 14,500 pages of previously confidential documents created by the Boy Scouts of America concerning child sexual abuse within the organization.
The files, which can be accessed on www.kellyclarkattorney.com, represent reports of Scouts allegedly abused by more than 1,200 different Scoutmasters and other adult volunteers across the country.
“You will see in the files over and over again where there is a concern that this material not get out … this will make Scouting look bad,” Clark said. Alleged offenders were also being “given second chances,” he added.
“In too many of these individual situations what happened was a de facto cover-up. I don’t believe that anybody woke up and conspired and said, ‘How do we create a system that would cover up child abuse?’ But when they put the interest of the organization ahead of the safety of kids pretty soon they were engaged in a de facto cover-up of abuse,” Clark said.
In one of the files, a Cub Scout leader was said to be caught sleeping in the nude with boys on a camping trip and showing them pornography.
“The response from the national organization … says: ‘I will agree that sleeping nude and showing boys pornographic books indicated very poor judgment in dealing with Cub Scouts,'” Clark said, reading from one of the documents. “'I do not know, however, that this is a serious enough offense to refuse registration anywhere he might try to register unless there are more instances.'”
In another, a Scoutmaster who admitted to “acts of perversion with several troop members” in 1972 was put on probation though he had submitted his resignation letter. It’s not clear from the documentation if he indeed maintained the post, but one Scout Executive wrote about the situation a few months after the first report:
.