New Sex Abuse Charges

[FireStone]

I don't know how accurate the earlier claim of 5 cases of sexual abuse in the BSA in 2018 is, but assuming for a minute that it's in the ballpark of accurate, can we just acknowledge the immense progress the BSA has made in curbing abuse? If we go by the available data from these articles, 12,254 victims of sexual abuse in the BSA have been reported since 1944. On average, that's about 163 per year. And surely the rate of abuse has diminished over time, likely with recent years tapering off and years further back having significantly greater numbers of abuses per year. We've gone from hundreds, sometimes several hundred, per year, potentially down to 5 reported cases in 2018. That's incredible.

I know it's not zero, and let's not get back into the discussion about any abuse is one too many. We all agree on that. I think it's just worth saying, and I wish these articles would say it too, that the BSA has made incredible strides in drastically reducing incidents of sexual abuse.

Edited June 5, 2019 by FireStone

[skeptic]

And you are absolutely right.  But the ambulance chasers and hate the Scouts people will never give any credit.  They do not care that BSA has a far better track record than probably any other youth-serving group, and likely better than schools as well.

 

[Cburkhardt]

This is not a matter of hate on the part of the litigators.  They are simply pursing a commercial opportunity that is being enabled and encouraged by the political policymakers in our state capitols.  I don't like it, but this is the tort system we have in the US.  Our political leaders are going to openly allow victims of alleged misconduct form the 1950s through 1970s to apply today's legal and behavioral standards at the expense of today's children in order to recover damages.  The policymakers pursuing this change are generally and happily engaging in a process they think will enrich their political allies and lead to our demise.

I hope all who read this now more-fully understand the absolute necessity of filing for financial reorganization bankruptcy at the earliest reasonable moment.  Otherwise our ability to continue providing our program to the children of today wit our tremendous YPT program will be significantly and negatively impacted.  

[skeptic]

The lawyers are simply greedy, but there are a few out there that for some reason work at bringing bad image publicity to 
BSA.  Why, other than they can, I do not know.  

 

[Eagle1993]

The BSA said in their letter this week that they are going to formally announce in the coming days a new youth protection education initiative.

"Through animated lessons and age-appropriate learning materials developed specifically for younger audiences, the 'Protect Yourself Rules' program will educate children on recognizing inappropriate conduct...," Surbaugh wrote.

He also described a multi-layer screening process for all applicants 18 years or older, which has recently been enhanced, and said BSA has recently expanded its background check policy.

 

https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/447107-democrats-want-more-information-from-boy-scouts-on-lobbying-effort

[malraux]

Yeah, at least at the cub scout area, its sounding like one of the belt loops will be some version of youth protection.

[Cburkhardt]

In addition to YPT, I personally spend at least an hour over a cup of coffee with every potential member of our committee.  I get into why they want to be involved and talk about YPT quite a bit.  I want to use my own personal common sense on these folks as well.

[elitts]

47 minutes ago, Cburkhardt said:

They are simply pursing a commercial opportunity that is being enabled and encouraged by the political policymakers in our state capitols.  I don't like it, but this is the tort system we have in the US.  Our political leaders are going to openly allow victims of alleged misconduct form the 1950s through 1970s to apply today's legal and behavioral standards at the expense of today's children in order to recover damages.  The policymakers pursuing this change are generally and happily engaging in a process they think will enrich their political allies and lead to our demise.

Not to mention that allowing people who where injured 30-40 years ago to be compensated at 2019 inflated numbers is a huge potential mess.  Statutes of Limitations were established for some very good reasons.

[RememberSchiff]

19 minutes ago, Eagle1993 said:

 

https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/447107-democrats-want-more-information-from-boy-scouts-on-lobbying-effort

I too, a BSA volunteer, would like to know the answers  to Representative Speier 's questions regarding BSA paid state lobbyists. 

Sad day when in order to get transparency from National, we need Congress's power to investigate.  Maybe Rep. Speier will also ask what happened at the National Annual Meeting last month. 

[Cburkhardt]

Statutes of limitations have an important function.  They prevent the abuse of lawsuits being filed decades after an alleged event -- when so much time has passed that the party sued cannot provide a reasonable defense.  State policymakers are eliminating those statutes of limitations, which will consequently allow the BSA to be sued by anyone in relation to events alleged to have taken place many decades ago.  If the BSA lobbied to explain what the impact would be of such a change, that is entirely reasonable.

[Cleveland Rocks]

15 hours ago, mds3d said:

"Aqua Joe", A Boy Scout official has been arrested and charged with production of child pornography after allegedly recording scouts while they were changing at  Firelands Scout Reservation . 

https://fox8.com/2018/11/01/boy-scout-official-arrested-charged-with-child-pornography-after-allegedly-recording-children-changing/

What policy would have prevented this in any situation?

This particular story is one where an incident was reported in June, 2017 and it wasn't until 18 months later that the person was removed from the program (and only after their arrest). A den leader had made a complaint in June, 2017 to a director regarding similar circumstances to what the person was ultimately arrested over. The director, at the time, only told the person that's now been charged that if it happened again, he'd be fired.

From a news article published at the time of the arrest:

Yet according to the report BSA told Homeland Security "Since all the photos appeared to pertain to changing before and after swimming, a director provided agents with a June 2017 report regarding an incident at the Wakeman camp that may be related. A den leader made a complaint about Close, the affidavit says, and the director told Close that he would be fired if it happened again."

A policy probably would not have prevented this from happening in the first place, but there are some ramifications with that council that are likely to occur because they knew a year and a half earlier that there were complaints against that person, and the only thing they did was to say, "okay, well, if this happens again, then you're gonna get in trouble!"

The criminal proceedings are of course still working their way through the system but from what we've heard, there are parents who are considering suing because of this lack of action back in June, 2017.

[qwazse]

32 minutes ago, Cleveland Rocks said:

... A den leader had made a complaint in June, 2017 to a director regarding similar circumstances to what the person was ultimately arrested over. ...

Was the Den leader trained? If so, why did he/she not contact her SE and notify the authorities?

Now, I would not want any legal action to be taken against the DL. But I would want her to understand that he/she did not follow her training to the letter.

P.S. - I often ask myself if I would have the stones to break usual chain of command to address YPT according to training. But, I have it pounded on me from two spheres of youth work thanks to PA's recent travails.

[RememberSchiff]

45 minutes ago, qwazse said:

Was the Den leader trained? If so, why did he/she not contact her SE and notify the authorities?

Now, I would not want any legal action to be taken against the DL. But I would want her to understand that he/she did not follow her training to the letter.

The same could be asked of the camp director  who he/she told.

This seems a timely story, a  Florida teacher is accused of not reporting a child’s sexual abuse. She was arrested after her husband was arrested on child porn, molestation and sexual battery charges.

They were both big parts of the Boy Scouts, too. On Tuesday evening, we are learning they were stripped of their duties with the organization.

The arrests come a the end of a four-month-long investigation: Operation Safe Summer. More than a dozen people were arrested, but a Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent said this is the first case he has had where a husband and wife were arrested.

Greg Graham, scout executive with Southwest Florida Council of the Boy Scouts of America, told WINK News:

“Both of these individuals were immediately removed from all Scout Programs by the Southwest Florida Council and by the unit’s Charter Sponsor Partner as soon as the law enforcement charges were brought to their attention.”

https://www.winknews.com/2019/06/04/teacher-arrested-for-not-reporting-spouses-child-sexual-abuse-crimes/

Edited June 5, 2019 by RememberSchiff

[Eagledad]

Well I can see more training coming. I found, in the couple of troubling adult/scout situations, that adults don't want to push to a point of confrontation. Even if they understand that the council will take it from their report, they would still rather not say anything and hope it goes away. I have personally seen this happen. 

Barry

[mds3d]

1 hour ago, Cleveland Rocks said:

This particular story is one where an incident was reported in June, 2017 and it wasn't until 18 months later that the person was removed from the program (and only after their arrest). A den leader had made a complaint in June, 2017 to a director regarding similar circumstances to what the person was ultimately arrested over. The director, at the time, only told the person that's now been charged that if it happened again, he'd be fired.

From a news article published at the time of the arrest:

Yet according to the report BSA told Homeland Security "Since all the photos appeared to pertain to changing before and after swimming, a director provided agents with a June 2017 report regarding an incident at the Wakeman camp that may be related. A den leader made a complaint about Close, the affidavit says, and the director told Close that he would be fired if it happened again."

A policy probably would not have prevented this from happening in the first place, but there are some ramifications with that council that are likely to occur because they knew a year and a half earlier that there were complaints against that person, and the only thing they did was to say, "okay, well, if this happens again, then you're gonna get in trouble!"

The criminal proceedings are of course still working their way through the system but from what we've heard, there are parents who are considering suing because of this lack of action back in June, 2017.

All the information we have about 2017 is that "an incident" occurred. No one but the involved people, the BSA, and the investigators know exactly what that incident was.  We have no idea if it was something to be reported or not. 

This is the problem with the news cycle related to criminal cases.  Except in the most sensational of cases, we will never hear what happened to these people.  The news will not report if they are found innocent, because that doesn't get clicks and sell ads.  Yes, some of them seem pretty cut and dry, but others are all accusation at this point.  

It is bad, but if I were the BSA, I would start throwing people under the bus at some point.  Units,  camp directors, and chartered organizations would all make good scape goats.  I am unsure if that would just scare away more volunteers or scare some into actually paying attention to YPT.