Boy Scout's 'Perversion' Files Reveals 'Sordid History of Sexual Abuse' in Organization, Says Lawyer
An attorney involved in a civil lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America over the sexual abuse of a 13-year-old boy by an adult volunteer says documents kept by the organization for nearly a century known as the "perversion files" reveal a "sordid history of child sexual abuse."
The attorney, Tim Hale, made the statement in California Monday at a civil trial on behalf of the victim who is now 20, according to the Associated Press. The victim, who was not identified by the AP, but listed in court documents, is suing the Boy Scout of America as well as a local scouting council for punitive damages for the 2007 abuse. He alleges the Boys Scouts were negligent because they failed to warn and train parents and volunteers about sex abuse.
Hale is being allowed by the court to access 30 years of "perversion" files which include 16 years of documents from 1991 to 2007 that have never been seen before.
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"The Boy Scouts of America has a long and sordid history of child sexual abuse committed against young Scouts, committed by Scout leaders and that timeline goes back, the files show, until at least the 1920s," said Hale.
"What has not been going on is notice to the public and notice to (the plaintiff) and his parents," he added.
The victim in the case testified that during the 2007 assault at a Christmas tree parking lot he suffered a bruise and laceration. He still struggles with anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
"It was a 13-year-old's word over a Scout leader, an adult," the victim noted on the stand. "He was someone people looked up to."
Nicholas Heldt, an attorney for the Boy Scouts, highlighted in his opening statement that the "perversion" files were created to keep children safe as people entered on a master list were marked as ineligible to volunteer with the Scouts.
He said the organization had acknowledged mistakes in the handling of sex abuse allegations in the past but a strong child protection program was now in place.
He noted that of some 1.5 million volunteers with the organization nationwide only 27 were booted annually from 2003 to 2007 for sexually abusing Scouts.
"This case is about training and whether training would have made a difference," Heldt told jurors.
"I think this is a case in which the one instance of sexual abuse against (the plaintiff) could not have been prevented, and it wasn't prevented," he said. "But the training program may have helped prevent the second or the third instance of sexual abuse."
