Boy Scouts of America sex abuse cases
[7] On February 18, 2020, the Boy Scouts of America filed for a Chapter 11 financial restructuring to offer "equitable compensation" to survivors and their families.
[13] Kenneth Lanning, the FBI agent who helped develop the BSA's Youth Protection Plan, wrote that "A skilled pedophile who can get children into a situation where they must change clothing or stay with him overnight will almost always succeed in seducing them.
[16][17] Circa early 2020, BSA indicated that over 90% of its youth protection-related pending lawsuits were for alleged incidents more than 30 years before that date.
In May 1991, The Washington Times published a major five-part investigation into sex abuse in the BSA entitled "Scouts Honor".
Staff from the newspaper had worked for two years preparing the series, reviewing internal and personnel records from the Boy Scouts; court records from more than 20 states, and more than 1,000 newspaper articles; as well as interviewing more than 200 people, including molesters, families of victims, Scout leaders, sex abuse experts and lawyers.
"[2] The series drew on three sources: The newspaper discovered that 1,151 Scouts reported being abused by their leaders during the studied 19-year period, mostly before the implementation of the Youth Protection Plan.
The newspaper articles later formed the basis for a book by the main journalist involved, Patrick Boyle: Scout's Honor: Sexual Abuse in America's Most Trusted Institution.
In August 2007, the Washington state Supreme Court ordered BSA to hand over documents concerning sexual abuse by Scout leaders.
'"[7] Some observers said the case "could have a snowball effect in much the same way high-profile molestation suits against the Roman Catholic Church had".
[24][25] This verdict resulted in the release of the "perversion files" that had been maintained by the Boy Scouts for about ninety years.
[28] On October 19, 2012, the Boy Scouts of America were forced by court order to release over 20,000 pages of documentation on 1247 alleged child sexual abuse cases within the organization, covering the time period from 1965 to 1985.
"[32] The reports showed incidents where accused abusers were allowed to continue in the Scouts and, in more than a third of the cases covered in the documents, information about the allegations was not passed on to police.
[35] Among the files include a 1972 BSA executive writing "I would like to let this case drop ... One father has threatened legal action which could only injure the Boy Scouts of America.
[41] Other reasons why individuals were added to the "ineligible volunteers" list included violence or threats of violent behavior, destruction of property, or failure to uphold the standards of the scouting program.
[43][44] Prior to the end of its BSA affiliation, the LDS Church was the organization's largest single sponsor.
[44] In an effort to consolidate the claims brought against it, the BSA filed for bankruptcy and established a compensation fund.
