UNITED STATES
The Star-Ledger

By Star-Ledger Editorial Board
on October 26, 2012

The Boy Scouts of America called it the “Perversion Files” — documentation of sex abuse allegations in the Scouts, culled from police and newspaper reports over 25 years, including statements from boys who were victimized. Police were rarely notified, and some of the abusers simply moved on to other troops, to prey on other youths.

The 1,200 files were released by court order after news organizations requested access to the files. Similarities to the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal that unspooled over the past 10 years are unmistakable.

What are we learning about these crimes against children and the adults who commit them? The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned two reports over the past decade, the latest one delivered last year by a research team at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York….