UNITED STATES
The Record
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
THE SORDID, sickening account of widespread child molestation over a 20-year period by leaders affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America carries forth a disturbing societal trend grown all-too-familiar: Leaders of a respected institution meant to help build character look the other way when discovering that children in their care are being violated by adult supervisors.
We saw this misguided culture in the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church in recent years, and we saw it again last fall in the sexual abuse patterns involving former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. In those cases, and in the case of the Scouts — as reported in a major investigation by the Los Angeles Times — reports of sexual abuse and molestation were put on the back burner, matters to be handled “in-house,” in many instances without taking the initiative to notify police or parents.
The Times reviewed some 1,600 confidential files — so-called “perversion files” — dating from 1970 to 1991 and found that the Scouts, instead of reporting potential abuse or showing concern for victims, instead frequently urged the admitted adult offenders to quietly step aside, so as to preserve the name and reputation of the institution.
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