[Vision2020] Boy Scout files reveal repeat abuse, report says

Mon Aug 6 15:50:37 PDT 2012

I think I get it.  You wouldn't happen to have a recent photo, would you?
That would remove all doubt.

w.

On Mon, Aug 6, 2012 at 3:37 PM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

> Something like . . .
>
> [image: image.jpeg]
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> "If not us, who?
> If not now, when?"
>
> - Unknown
>
> On Aug 6, 2012, at 12:52 PM, Art Deco <art.deco.studios at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Gee Tom, I wonder who it could be.  Maybe you could post a link or two to
> help me figure it out.  If there any links pointing to a letter describing
> an incident with a two year old, that would maybe narrow it down a bit.
>
> Puzzled,
>
> w.
>
> On Mon, Aug 6, 2012 at 7:41 AM, Tom Hansen < <thansen at moscow.com>
> thansen at moscow.com> wrote:
>
>> An anti-gay organization that shelters child abusers?
>>
>> Gee, Wayne.  That sounds somewhat very familiar.
>>
>> Nah!  Nothing like that could happen here in Moscow . . . huh.
>>
>> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>>
>> Tom Hansen
>> Moscow, Idaho
>>
>> "If not us, who?
>> If not now, when?"
>>
>> - Unknown
>>
>> On Aug 6, 2012, at 7:29 AM, Art Deco < <art.deco.studios at gmail.com>
>> art.deco.studios at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>      <http://www.spokesman.com/> August 6, 2012
>> Boy Scout files reveal repeat abuse, report says
>> Jason Felch
>> Los Angeles Times
>>
>> LOS ANGELES – For nearly a century, the Boy Scouts of America has relied
>> on a confidential blacklist known as the “perversion files” as a crucial
>> line of defense against sexual predators.
>>
>> Scouting officials say they’ve used the files to prevent hundreds of men
>> who had been expelled for alleged sexual abuse from returning to the ranks.
>> They’ve fought hard in court to keep the records from public view, saying
>> confidentiality was needed to protect victims, witnesses and anyone
>> falsely accused.
>>
>> “It is a fact that Scouts are safer because the barrier created by these
>> files is real,” Scouts Chief Executive Robert Mazzuca said in video posted
>> on the organization’s website in June.
>>
>> That barrier, however, has been breached repeatedly.
>>
>> A Los Angeles Times review of more than 1,200 files dating from 1970 to
>> 1991 found more than 125 cases across the country in which men allegedly
>> continued to molest Scouts after the organization was first presented with
>> detailed allegations of abusive behavior.
>>
>> Predators slipped back into the program by falsifying personal
>> information or skirting the registration process. Others were able to jump
>> from troop to troop around the country thanks to clerical errors, computer
>> glitches or the Scouts’ failure to check the blacklist.
>>
>> In some cases, officials failed to document reports of abuse in the first
>> place, letting offenders stay in the organization until new allegations
>> surfaced. In others, officials documented abuse but merely suspended the
>> accused leader or allowed him to continue working with boys while
>> on “probation.”
>>
>> In at least 50 cases, the Boy Scouts expelled suspected abusers, only to
>> discover later that they had re-entered the program and were accused of
>> molesting again.
>>
>> “Basically, there were no controls,” said Bill Dworin, a retired Los
>> Angeles police expert on child sexual abuse who reviewed hundreds of the
>> files as a witness for an Oregon man abused by his troop leader in
>> the 1980s.
>>
>> In response to the Times’ findings, the Scouts issued a statement that
>> said in part:
>>
>> “The Boy Scouts of America believes even a single instance of abuse is
>> unacceptable, and we regret there have been times when the BSA’s best
>> efforts to protect children were insufficient. For that we are very sorry
>> and extend our deepest sympathies to victims. … We are committed to the
>> ongoing enhancement of our program, in line with evolving best practices
>> for protecting youth.”
>>
>> The Scouts have maintained “ineligible volunteer” files in one form or
>> another since at least 1919 to keep track of men who failed to meet
>> Scouting’s moral standards. Files that involved allegations of child sexual
>> abuse were dubbed “perversion files.” A master list of those banned from
>> Scouting has been computerized since 1975 and is used to vet applicants for
>> volunteer and paid positions.
>>
>> Only a select few in Scouting have access to the files, which are kept in
>> 15 locked cabinets at Scout headquarters in Irving, Texas. But over the
>> years, hundreds of the files have been admitted as evidence, usually under
>> seal, in lawsuits by former Scouts alleging a pattern of abuse in
>> the organization.
>>
>> Many of the files will soon be made public as a result of an Oregon
>> Supreme Court decision. The court, in response to a petition by the
>> Oregonian, the Associated Press, the New York Times and other media
>> organizations, ordered the release of 1,247 files from 1965 to 1984 that
>> had been admitted as evidence, under seal, in the 2010 lawsuit.
>>
>> In anticipation of the release, attorneys for the Boy Scouts conducted an
>> informal review of 829 of the files, saying they sought to put the contents
>> in perspective. The Scouts said the review found 175 instances in which the
>> files prevented men who’d been banned for alleged abuse from reentering
>> the program.
>>
>> The Times analyzed an overlapping, though broader and more recent, set of
>> files, which were submitted in a California court case in 1992. Their
>> contents vary but often include biographical information on the accused,
>> witness statements, police reports, parent complaints, news clippings, and
>> correspondence between local Boy Scout officials and national headquarters.
>>
>> The accounts that emerge are often incomplete. But the Scouts ultimately
>> deemed the allegations sufficiently credible to expel the suspected abusers.
>>
>> Today, the Boy Scouts of America says it continues to use the
>> confidential files as part of its efforts to prevent child abuse. In recent
>> decades, it has added other protective measures. In 1988, for instance,
>> Scouting did away with probation; its policy now is to expel anyone
>> suspected in “good faith” of abuse. In 2008, criminal background checks
>> were required on all volunteers, and in 2010 the organization required all
>> suspected abuse to be reported to law enforcement.
>>
>> The extent to which these measures have succeeded is impossible to gauge:
>> The Scouts continue to fight in court against the release of more
>> recent files.
>> __________________________________________
>>
>> No real surprises here for anyone familiar with the problem:
>>
>> <http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2010/03/19/21325><http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2010/03/19/21325>
>> http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2010/03/19/21325
>>
>> <http://ldssexchildabuse.blogspot.com/><http://ldssexchildabuse.blogspot.com/>
>> http://ldssexchildabuse.blogspot.com/
>>
>> <http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/02/15/34213.htm><http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/02/15/34213.htm>
>> http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/02/15/34213.htm
>>
>> For many, many more similar cases, Google: mormon "boy scouts" "sexual
>> abuse"
>>
>> --
>> Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
>> <art.deco.studios at gmail.com> <art.deco.studios at gmail.com>
>> art.deco.studios at gmail.com
>>
>>
>>
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>
> --
> Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
> <art.deco.studios at gmail.com>art.deco.studios at gmail.com
>
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> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
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-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com
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