Court Opens Boy Scouts "Perversion Files"
An Oregon court has ordered the release of roughly 20,000 pages of the organizations confidential records.
| Posted Friday, June 15, 2012, at 8:47 PM
The public will learn a lot more about abuse cases pertaining to the Boy Scouts of America after an Oregon court on Thursday ordered the release of the so-called "perversion files," roughly 20,000 pages of the organization's confidential records documenting suspected and confirmed sexual abuse within the group.
The names of the victims and accusers will be redacted. It's not clear, however, whether the identities of the accused will also be withheld, according to Reuters. The Los Angeles Times explains that the files span from 1965 to 1985 and were key evidence in a 2010 lawsuit in Oregon that awarded $20 million to a man who was sexually abused by an assistant scoutmaster.
Kelly Clark, the attorney representing abuse victims, said that the files show that nearly 60 leaders or volunteers in the organization were found to be molesting children during an average year.
In a statement to reporters, the Boy Scouts of America said that the files—and the system of reporting abuse—were kept confidential in order to encourage the reporting of questionable behavior among the organization's adult leadership.
