Boy Scouts helped alleged molesters cover tracks, files show

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-boy-scouts-files-20120916,0,6937684.story

or http://tinyurl.com/93gfpp8

 

Over two decades, the Boy Scouts of America failed to report hundreds of alleged child molesters to police and often hid the allegations from parents and the public.

 

A Los Angeles Times review of 1,600 confidential files dating from 1970 to 1991 has found that Scouting officials frequently urged admitted offenders to quietly resign and helped many cover their tracks.

 

Volunteers and employees suspected of abuse were allowed to leave citing bogus reasons such as business demands, "chronic brain dysfunction" and duties at a Shakespeare festival.

 

The details are contained in the organization's confidential "perversion files," a blacklist of alleged molesters, that the Scouts have used internally since 1919. Scouts' lawyers around the country have been fighting in court to keep the files from public view.

 

As The Times reported in August, the blacklist often didn't work: Men expelled for alleged abuses slipped back into the program, only to be accused of molesting again. Now, a more extensive review has shown that Scouts sometimes abetted molesters by keeping allegations under wraps.

 

In the majority of cases, the Scouts learned of alleged abuse after it had been reported to authorities. But in more than 500 instances, the Scouts learned about it from boys, parents, staff members or anonymous tips.

 

In about 400 of those cases 80% there is no record of Scouting officials reporting the allegations to police. In more than 100 of the cases, officials actively sought to conceal the alleged abuse or allowed the suspects to hide it, The Times found.

...

[BadenP]

Yes Merlyn

 

The same thing is also true with the Roman Catholic Church and other religious organizations, most school districts, college and university faculties, administrations, and board of trustees, and any other organization that deals primarily with youth. So what is your point?

 

Are you proposing we close down the BSA, all religious organizations, all schools and universities, and every organization that works with youth? Not a very practical solution.

[Basementdweller]

I am going to bet that there is no official National or council policy about folks resigning and covering abuse up soooooooooo...have the folks affected and sueing go after the individual Scout professionals for doin......Or have the Scout Professionals who did so go to jail for obstruction of justice........

 

 

 

I have no problem with scouting pro's being accountable......Since they aren't accountable to those they serve they can be accountable to the law of the land. I would love to see a number of those who participated in the cover up go to jail...

[Peregrinator]

Makes one wonder why atheists and homosexuals would want to be associated with such an organization.

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

BadenP writes:

The same thing is also true with the Roman Catholic Church and other religious organizations, most school districts, college and university faculties, administrations, and board of trustees, and any other organization that deals primarily with youth. So what is your point?

 

That some of them deserve prison, like this guy:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/25/us/philadelphia-church-official-to-be-sentenced-in-abuse-case.html

Msgr. William J. Lynn, the first Roman Catholic Church official in the United States to be convicted of covering up sexual abuses by priests under his supervision, was sentenced Tuesday to three to six years in prison.

 

And I disagree with your assertion that "most" school districts et al. are committing crimes by covering up abuse instead of reporting it.

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Basementdweller writes:

I am going to bet that there is no official National or council policy about folks resigning and covering abuse up

 

I am going to bet you didn't read the article:

That same year, the director of a Boy Scout camp in Virginia wrote to the Scouts' top lawyer, asking for help dealing with a veteran employee suspected of a "lifelong pattern" of abuse that had not been reported to police.

 

"When a problem has surfaced, he has been asked to leave a position 'of his own free will' rather than risk further investigation," the director wrote. "The time has come for someone to make a stand and prevent further occurrences."

 

There is no indication the Scouts took the matter to law enforcement.

...

In the 1970s and '80s, secrecy was embedded in the Scouts' policies and procedures for handling child sexual abuse.

 

A cover sheet that accompanied many confidential files included a check box labeled "Internal (only scouts know)" as an option for how cases were resolved. A form letter sent to leaders being dismissed over abuse allegations stated: "We are making no accusations and will not release this information to anyone, so our action in no way will affect your standing in the community."

 

That letter was included in the organization's 1972 policy on how to remove unfit leaders, which, according to an attached memo, was kept confidential "because of misunderstandings which could develop if it were widely distributed."

...

In a 1987 case in Washington state, a district executive wrote to the national office complaining that his boss had refused to put a former scoutmaster on the blacklist, despite a molestation conviction, "because he has done so much for camp and is a nice guy."

 

He had handed a newspaper clipping of the conviction to his boss, who "crumpled it up, said he saw it already, and then said, 'Why don't you just put it up on a billboard for everyone to see?'" the executive wrote. "Since that time, nothing has been done."

 

 

All of the above indicate that people at national were contacted, and that nothing was done.

 

[BadenP]

Merlyn

 

You may disagree all you like but facts are facts. Three teachers in my area alone accused of having sex with a minor were dismissed from their jobs and given 6 months community service, the monsignor story you refer to in your post given 3-6 years for what amounted to probably numerous rapes of young boys by his priests and probably himself, hardly punishments fitting the severity of the crimes committed, and don't forget good old Jerry Sandusky and that extensive and high level coverup. Yeah I agree with you more of these people should be put in jail for a very long time, but our current legal system has some serious problems of its own and a good lawyer can always find a series of loopholes to get their clients off or given minor sentences.

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

BadenP writes:

You may disagree all you like but facts are facts.

 

So where's the "fact" that most school districts, college and university faculties, administrations, and board of trustees have covered up child molestation? Note that you can't just point to single incidents, you have to show that more than 50% of these have covered up child molestation.

[fred8033]

Merln,

 

Honestly - What's your goal? Do you want BSA's youth protection standards to change? Here they are. What do you want different?

http://www.scouting.org/Training/YouthProtection.aspx

 

I honestly think your working a separate political agenda by stiring hatred using old news against many many very good volunteers. Your demeaning others using one old topic in the hope to pursue a totally separate topic. That's just not intellectually honest.

 

And I think that's low. You can disagree with a belief or a policy without belittling or causing hatred against so may well meaning and hard working volunteers.

 

Shame on you.

[Eagle732]

I agree with you fred. It's getting to the point where even those who don't necessarily agree with BSA's policy on gay leaders are getting fed up with the constant baiting here. And this is what this post is all about, make no mistake about it. Give it a break.

[Basementdweller]

Well who ever at national wrote those memos should go to jail....or whom ever the letters where sent to and didn't act on them.....

 

 

Time for someone to grow a pair.

 

 

Ya know what.....they are doing that to us......violate the g2ss and YOU as the volunteer are personally responsible for the results......BECAUSE you didn't follow the guide lines....

[FScouter]

"Well who ever at national wrote those memos should go to jail..."

 

Things that were done or not done 30 and 40 years ago are regrettable and tis a good thing we've come a long way since them ol days. Those folks are likely all dead by now, so let's move on eh? ...

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

I honestly think your working a separate political agenda by stiring hatred using old news against many many very good volunteers.

 

This is "new" old news; it wasn't discovered until the BSA was forced by the courts to release their files. The revelation that many BSA execs protected molesters in some cases IS news.

 

Of course, in some cases it's old news. I posted this in 2007:

http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=164736&p=1

Brad Allen was scout exec of the Seattle council from 2006-2010, when the national BSA made him area director for Area Two of the Western Region. I asked five years ago why this guy is still in the BSA, and I'm asking again now.

 

But once again people in this forum respond by burying their heads in the sand. Oh, and whining about ME, like I'VE done something wrong. Typical.

 

[SeattlePioneer]

Once again we have Merlyn_LeRoy exaggerating what Scouting officials might have known in order to besmirch the name of BSA.

 

 

The simple fact is that allegations are very tough to prove, but making public attacks on someone's character can lead to very expensive lawsuits.

 

Kicking someone out or allowing someone to resign might very well be the best and smartest decision to have made especially when provable facts are limited.

 

Whether BSA's current policy of reporting allegations to the police makes much of a difference in practice is an interesting question.

 

For Merlyn_LeRoy to say that Scouting "abetted" molesters by keeping unproven allegations confidential is an outrageous calumny, but oh so typical of Merlyn_LeRoy's hate campaign against BSA and Scouting.

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

SeattlePioneer, once again protecting the BSA from any and all accusations of ever doing anything wrong.

 

Yawn.