“We, Too, Have a Job to Do” by Norman Rockwell (Boy Scouts of America Calendar 1944), Source National Scouting Museum (c) copyright Brown & Bigelow Inc.
“On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to obey the Scout Law, to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.”
-Boy Scout Oath
A lawsuit has been filed against the Boy Scouts of America which alleges sexual abuse on a massive scale [1].
While this is not the first lawsuit alleging such abuse against the organization, some 350 scout leaders and other volunteers are identified as pedophiles. Most are accused of abusing multiple boys. Eight hundred or so victims have come forward, ranging in age from 14 to 88 years.
The complaint asserts that the Boys Scouts have known for decades that sexual predation is ongoing.
The organization has maintained a database of “ineligible” volunteers since the 1920s. That database, it has been learned, contains the names of 7819 suspected abusers (not all of whom, it must be emphasized, were permitted to join the organization), along with 12,254 reported victims [2].
Assuming all those accused are guilty, they still represent only a small fraction of the roughly one million adults who serve annually as troop leaders and in other positions with the Boy Scouts. Since the organization’s inception, about 110 million boys have taken part in scouting.
Both New York and New Jersey have recently extended their Statutes of Limitations re: sexual abuse. Confronted with mounting legal costs, the Boy Scouts may consider filing for bankruptcy.
The organization does nowadays conduct criminal background checks on its volunteers.
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[1] NBC News, “Boy Scout scandal could be bigger than Catholic Church crisis” by Corky Siemaszko, 8/6/19, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/boy-scouts-america-have-pedophile-epidemic-are-hiding-hundreds-its-n1039661.
[2] Los Angeles Times, “Boy Scout sex abuse scandal’s stunning toll: over 12,200 reported victims” by Kim Christensen, 5/15/19, https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-na-boy-scouts-child-sex-abuse-20190515-story.html .
The Boy Scouts have reached an $850 million settlement with tens of thousands of US abuse victims.
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ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse 
Not surprised… just sad to see it in the news. 😦
Tragic that any single life should be impacted by abuse. Here, in addition, an organization that has helped millions of children may be undermined by predators.
It’s simply wrong. Regardless of what some people say, there is good and bad and right and wrong. The fact that the organization has this many (hidden) problems suggests to me that it should just go away. Maybe that sounds harsh, IDK, but I do know that lots of lives have been profoundly affected.
There is definitely a tipping point beyond which an organization is irretrievable.
Yes!
Children are at risk in so many factions..
I believe the government should never allow cases of abuse to be settled out of court. Hush money allows sexual abuse of innocent children to go on. Background checks are worthless if no children have dared to speak, and are fallible.
I agree w/ you about the shortcoming of background checks, Mary. Predators never before convicted may appear to pose no risk.
Problem is Mary, many in government are part of this evil ring this is why they are settled out of court cowards.
We should add that out of court settlements protect a child against the rigors of testifying in court (something not all children find helpful). They are, also, useful when evidence of abuse is insufficient to assure that a predator will be convicted.
So there is a more positive side to out of court settlements. Children often become afraid when seeing their abuser up close and in different circumstances.
Not surprised either, There has been too much herding especially children in the name growth or whatever they want to call it, in reality to sexual abuse. The words just fail me.
I was in Brownies and Girl Guides in Australia and to be honest I could not say those who ran the local groups were guilty of anything but just teaching girls every day things which perhaps they did not get taught at home. I had an inner feeling these types of groups were not for me. The dark energy must have come from the roots and could feel it.
Children abuse is a great tragedy, in a lot of fields