Boy Scout ‘perversion Files’ Released Online

Dallas Morning News
October 18, 2012

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/irving/headlines/20121018-boy-scout-perversion-files-set-for-unprecedented-public-release-on-the-internet.ece

Files from Boy Scouts of America Inc.'s "ineligible volunteer files," documented reports of child abuse kept at BSA's Irving headquarters, were released online Thursday by a Portland, Ore., law firm that represents plaintiffs in child sex abuse cases. The BSA fought for decades to keep the files secret, arguing that people would be less likely to report abuse if they thought those reports might become public.

More than 1,200 “perversion files,” each naming an alleged child molester banned from scouting by the Boy Scouts of America, went online today at www.kellyclarkattorney.com.

“Over and over again, you will see instances of concern in these files that instances of child abuse within scouting be kept secret to protect the BSA,” said Kelly Clark, a Portland, Ore., attorney who represents sexually abused children, including former Scouts.

Clark and his law firm held a news conference Thursday to announce the unprecedented public release of 20 years worth of the files from 1965-85.

The BSA fought for decades to keep the files secret, arguing that people might be less likely to report abuse if they thought those reports might become public. The files include cases from all over the nation.

Officials at BSA headquarters in Irving said the organization has greatly upgraded its youth protection policies since the 1980s. New staff training programs are in place, and criminal background checks are conducted on paid employees and adult volunteers. Another policy forbids a Scoutmaster from being alone with a Scout, and the Scout handbook now includes warnings about child molesters.

“While it’s difficult to understand or explain individuals’ actions from many decades ago, today Scouting is a leader among youth-serving organizations in preventing child abuse,” Wayne Perry, BSA’s national president, said in a prepared statement issued in response to the Oregon file release.

The now-public files include the cases of 71 men in Texas, most of them Scoutmasters, who were banned for homosexuality or because they faced criminal child sex abuse charges. The cases include 10 men from Dallas. Most of them, if still alive, would now be in their 60s, 70s or 80s.

The documents cover some 14,500 pages of material including internal BSA memos, newspaper clippings, criminal court records and BSA notifications to alleged perpetrators that their Scouting credentials were being revoked. In many of the cases, BSA knew Scoutmasters had abused children but did not report the abuse to police, opting instead to remove the perpetrator from the organization.

The files were the centerpiece of a 2010 jury verdict of nearly $20 million against the BSA and its local council in Portland, Ore., on behalf of Kerry Lewis, a former Scout who was repeatedly abused by his Scoutmaster in the 1980s.

“The significance of these files is that they show the breadth of knowledge that BSA had about predators in their ranks and how they prevented this knowledge from getting to the people and families who needed it,” said Paul Mones, a lawyer for Lewis who worked on the file release with Clark.

The Oregon Supreme Court ruled in June that the documents should be made public because they had become evidence in the Lewis trial and were deemed proof that BSA officials had known of a serious child sexual abuse problem and had actively concealed the problem. The court turned the files over to Lewis’ attorneys and ordered them to redact the names of victims and the names of those who reported abuse.

Deron Smith, a BSA spokesman, said the 1965-85 files do not reflect Scouting’s current-day policies on reporting of child sexual abuse.

“When people look at the files as a whole, they will see a good-faith effort to protect kids in Scouting during the era it was operating in,” Smith said. “Today, we might look at it as insufficient or wrong.”

Last month, BSA issued an open letter to the Scouting community and apologized for any role it may have played in child sexual abuse cases.

“There have been instances where people misused their positions in Scouting to abuse children, and in certain cases, our response to these incidents and our efforts to protect youth were plainly insufficient, inappropriate or wrong,” said the open letter, which was signed by three top BSA officials - Wayne Brock, BSA's chief executive in Irving; BSA national president Wayne Perry of Seattle; and national commissioner Tico Perez of Orlando.