Introduction

One of the oldest youth organizations in North America found based on tradition and values. The boy scouts (hereinafter referred to as BSA) have had millions of volunteers over the years, including young boys. However, these volunteers have had an unfortunate experience with sexual deviance, infiltrating scouting and abusers getting access to these young boys. It was only later understood that these boys were groomed by a convicted sex offender.

In a legal battle that stretched for years and was finally decided by the Washington Supreme Court. The court stated that the BSA will have to hand over all the personal files of the organization. These files have revealed a staggering reality also known as the “perversion files”.  The files further explain all about the unfortunate incidents and contain a record of all the abusers who were confronted. A secret list kept away from the public eye for decades.

The boy scouts kept the evidence of their guilt. Among these files, a paedophile list was also found who were thrown out of scouting. The details of what happened, in this case, is horrible but so is the sheer number of victims. Some of the children scouted and some worked in volunteering. The boy scouts provided a fertile opportunity for child molesters. The organization has also confessed that they did not routinely notify the police when they became aware of the deviants. It was only at a later stage understood why the organization worked and fought so hard to cover everything up. Since the primary concern was to protect the organization.

CASES

1. In the case of Kerry Lewis v. Boy Scouts of America,[1] “A jury in Oregon made the largest punitive damages award to a single plaintiff in a child abuse case in the US by ordering the Scouts to pay $18.5m (£12m) to Kerry Lewis, who was repeatedly assaulted by a former assistant scoutmaster, Timur Dykes, in the 1980s. Dykes had admitted to a superior in the Scouts that he had abused boys, but was allowed to remain in the organization and is alleged to have sexually assaulted several other children who are also taking legal action. The judge in the case overruled the Scouts’ attempts to keep the jury from seeing about 1,200 files kept by the organization on suspected paedophiles. Kelly Clark, Lewis’s lawyer, told the jury that while the files were often used to remove child abusers from the Scouting movement, many were allowed to remain in the organization. He said that the Scouts rarely alerted the police and when they did, the movement asked the authorities to avoid publicity.”[2]
2. “In 2012, the Los Angeles Times newspaper uncovered about 5,000 files detailing allegations against scoutmasters and troop leaders who had been deemed “ineligible volunteers”. Most incidents had not been reported to police, and the BSA tasked themselves with removing those accused.”[3]
3. In the case of slusher vs. furlong, [4] the petitioner pleaded guilty on the count of sexual assault on a child and was sentenced to imprisonment. The petitioner was further charged with three felony counts of sexual exploitation of children.
4. “Richard Turley, a former volunteer in California, was convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 11-year-old Canadian scout. After 18 months, he was released from a mental institution and went right back to work, beginning his volunteer work at a California scout camp. In 1979, he assaulted three of those scouts. Upon learning this, the Boy Scouts of America simply told Turley to return to Canada, not warning Scouts Canada of Turley’s criminal behaviour. In 1996, Turley went on to assault four boys, three of which were scouts, in Victoria, British Columbia. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.”[5]
5. “Multnomah County jurors found the Texas-based Boy Scouts of America and their local body, the Portland-based Cascade Pacific Council, negligent for the sexual abuse of an 11-year-old Southeast Portland boy in the 1980s by an assistant Scoutmaster and convicted paedophile. The jury awarded Kerry Lewis, now 38, $1.4 million — $1.05 million of which the Boy Scouts of America and the Cascade Pacific Council are responsible for paying.”[6]
6. In the Johnston PA case,[7] one of the BSA leaders pleaded guilty to “serious morals” contraventions. A local Scouting executive learned of the abuse from a local executive board member who served as both mayor and police chief.[8]

Conclusion: The Boy Scouts of America was founded in 1910 and was based on scouting initiatives. They focused on civic engagement, outdoor and educational activities, that raised young men to be honourable and respectable citizens. As the organization grew so did the opportunities that the BSA offered. The BSA became the pillar of American society. The BSA prohibited girls and openly gay boys from joining the scouting ventures. Which backlashed BSA with a major membership controversy. The organization dictated who will be able to join and who will not be allowed to call themselves a scout. In the case of BSA vs dale,[9] the group successfully defended its prohibition on accepting gay members. However, the BSA eventually acknowledge the admittance of gay youth in the year 2013 and again in 2015 for gay adults to volunteer and also opened its membership to girls in 2017.

Anyhow, the rampant lawsuits alleging child abuse from decades ago have forced the Boy Scouts of America to file for bankruptcy. Two major things that attracted American families are that the BSA had many activities to offer, providing various learning exposures for young kids. Other being parents were very busy and dropping their kids for leisure extracurricular activities assisted them in many ways. The abuse damaged young boys mentally. Few have gone on record to state how they opted for therapy over the years to voice out about the trauma so suffered. The judgement so rewarded in favour of the victims provides a sense of validation and empowerment. Ensuring the psychological well-being of the victims of BSA who have been using a wide range of institutions.

[1] https://www.morelaw.com/verdicts/case.asp?n=&s=OR&d=43520

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/29/boy-scouts-sexual-abuse-dykes

[3] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54971579

[4] https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5914b4b3add7b0493476e002

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America_sex_abuse_cases#Specific_cases

[6] https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2010/04/portland_sex_abuse_verdict_lea.html

[7] https://web.archive.org/web/20131018015427/http://4375a6279342a3f4be11-cdccd2befed3f607afb3bb5ced5cc094.r24.cf1.rackcdn.com/1125.pdf

[8] https://web.archive.org/web/20131018015427/http://4375a6279342a3f4be11-cdccd2befed3f607afb3bb5ced5cc094.r24.cf1.rackcdn.com/1125.pdf

[9] https://law.justia.com/cases/delaware/superior-court/2013/09c-07-085.html