“Perversion Files” Detail Coverup of Boy Scout Abuse

An Oregon court ordered the release of 14,500 pages of documents that detail the coverup of sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts. The files—which were first accumulated shortly after the group’s establishment in 1910—include newspaper clippings, letters from victims and parents, and memos from Scout officials containing details about known molesters and unsubstantiated claims of abuse.

The files were shown to a jury in a 2010 Oregon civil suit that the Scouts lost, and the Oregon Supreme Court ruled the files should be made public. After months of objections and redactions, the Scouts and Clark released them.

In many instances – more than a third, according to the Scouts’ own count – police weren’t told about the reports of abuse. And even when they were, sometimes local law enforcement still did nothing, seeking to protect the name of Scouting over their victims. [AP]