* Names of victims to be redacted when records are made
public
* Documents were admitted as evidence during 2010 civil
trial
* Boy Scouts say release may have ‘chilling effect’ on abuse
reporting
(Adds details, background throughout)
By Teresa Carson
PORTLAND, Ore., June 14 (Reuters) – The Oregon Supreme Court
on Thursday ordered the release of 20,000 pages of confidential
Boy Scouts of America records dubbed the “perversion files”
documenting suspected or confirmed sexual abuse by its leaders
and volunteers.
But the state high court ruled that the names contained in
the six cartons of documents be redacted before the files are
made available to the public to protect victims, those reporting
abuse and others involved.
The documents were admitted as evidence in a 2010 civil
trial in which an Oregon jury found the Boy Scouts of America,
headquartered in Texas, liable in a 1980s pedophile case and
ordered the organization to pay nearly $20 million in damages.
Attorney Kelly Clark, representing abuse victims, has said
the files revealed that an average of nearly 60 Boy Scout
leaders or volunteers a year were discovered to have been
molesting children from 1965 to 1985.
“The released documents represent the largest and most
comprehensive data collection system on child sexual abuse
maintained by an organization in the nation,” another lawyer for
abuse victims, Paul Mones, said in a statement. “Not even the
Catholic Church has such a system.”
Attorneys for abuse victims estimated the documents would be
ready for release to the media and the public within a few days.
Unsealing of the so-called “perversion files” came as public
attention was riveted on the high-profile child sex abuse trial
of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
The Boy Scouts of America, which had fought to keep the
documents from being made public, said the files were
“maintained to keep out individuals whose actions are
inconsistent with the standards of Scouting, and Scouts are
safer because those files exist.”
Strict confidentiality of the files “encourages prompt
reporting of questionable behavior, removes the fear of
retribution and ensures victims and their families have the
privacy they deserve,” the organization said in a statement.
CONCERNS ABOUT REPORTING ABUSE
The Boy Scouts said the organization remained concerned that
even with redactions, release of the records could have a
“chilling effect on the reporting of abuse.”
Clark, in his own statement after Thursday’s decision, said,
“Child abuse thrives in secrecy and secret systems are its
putrid breeding ground.”
Release of the files was sought by several news media
organizations, including the New York Times, which argued they
should be deemed public records under Oregon law.
Last year, four Oregon men sued the Boy Scouts in separate
cases for more than $5 million each over childhood sexual abuse
they say they suffered at the hands of a known pedophile who was
their scoutmaster in the 1970s.
Those cases and a separate lawsuit at about the same time in
Montana brought to at least 35 the number of individuals who had
lodged child sexual abuse claims against the Boy Scouts in 11
states since 2007, according to Clark, whose Portland firm has
spearheaded the legal action.
Mounting litigation against the Boy Scouts has tarnished the
wholesome image of a 100-year-old largely volunteer organization
that prides itself on building good character, citizenship and
personal fitness among its 2.7 million members, who are mostly
boys aged eight to 17.
As in the sex abuse scandal rocking the Roman Catholic
Church, whose hierarchy is accused of covering up misconduct by
priests, recent lawsuits against the Boy Scouts have claimed the
organization concealed child molestation by its Scout leaders.
Boy Scout officials say the allegations involve only a small
fraction of the 1.1 million adults who volunteer for the
nonprofit organization.
The group also has cited new safeguards instituted during
the past decade, including tighter screening of adult
volunteers, although computerized criminal background checks
only became mandatory for new volunteers in 2003 and for
existing volunteers in 2008.
(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Dan Burns and Bill Trott)
