SHARI KARNEY SPEAKS OUT ABOUT

Boy Scouts claim kids safer with them than at home

Alan Duke CNN

September 26, 2012

LOS ANGELES (CNN) — The Boy Scouts of America released a study Wednesday that claims children were safer from sex abuse in the Scouts than when at home or school.

The report was prepared by a psychiatric expert hired by the Scouts to review so-called “perversion files” kept by the organization from 1970 to 1991.

A newspaper review of the files published last week said they showed scouting officials “failed to report hundreds of alleged child molesters to police and often hid the allegations from parents and the public.”

Dr. Janet Warren (University of Virginia psychiatry professor) wrote in her report.

• claims children were safer from sex abuse in the Scouts than when at home or school.

Shari Karney: Are we calling a place “safer” for our children because the child rape and sexual abuse rate is lower than at other places? Why should we tolerate any child sexual abuse? Even one child victim is one too many. Dr. Warren states, “Only 25 children in the Scouts were sexually abused in 1980.” Only 25 children? That’s 25 children too many.

• review so-called “perversion files” kept by the organization from 1970 to 1991.

Shari Karney: For decades, the Boy Scouts have argued that the confidential files contain no information of value to the public or for protecting youth in general against pedophiles.

Shari Karney: This couldn’t be further from the truth. Had those “perversion files” been turned over to the police and made public, hundreds, maybe thousands of child victims could have been saved between 1970 and 1991. Had those reports been publicly revealed and turned over to the police, unborn future victims could have been saved. We are talking about a 21-year period.

• scouting officials “failed to report hundreds of alleged child molesters to police and often hid the allegations from parents and the public.”

Shari Karney: I call on the Boy Scouts to oust any Official still with the organization who are involved in covering up child sex crimes or failing to report such crimes to the police. I call on victims to come forward and assert their legal rights against the Boy Scouts; I call for criminal charges to be filed against perpetrators and officials who took part in the abuse and the cover up.

• “I believe that these files show that children in Scouting were safer and less likely to experience inappropriate sexual behavior in Scouting than in their own families, schools and during other community activities supervised by adults,” Dr. Janet Warren wrote in her report.

Shari Karney, an attorney who specializes in child sexual abuse cases against organizations like the Boy Scouts, Churches Swim Clubs, Universities is outraged and stunned by Dr. Janet Warren’s assertion in her  report on behalf of the Boy Scouts, that children were safer in the Boy Scouts than at home. The Scouts have perversion files” which are a blacklist of alleged sexual molesters.

Shari Karney: The problem with the Boy Scouts hiding these files for so long is that it stops victims from seeking justice because of potential statute of limitation running out. And the Boy Scouts knew it. They hoped to wait until the clock ran out, before they made public these files. The leadership of the BSA were cunning and clever with the law.

As one of the authors of the changes in the law to the SOL in California, the law was changed in 1991. Exactly when the Boy Scouts stopped even keeping these secret “perversion files.” The official knew what they were doing and were protecting the Boy Scouts and themselves from lawsuits and criminal charges. They intentionally were depriving victims of being able to exercise their legal rights.

Does this fit into the purpose and founding principles of the Boy Scouts? Is this morally straight? Have the Boy Scouts run astray of their own teachings and founding ideals? Their actions over a 20-year period, hiding files of children documenting being sexually abused, is morally reprehensible. And more than that, it makes the leadership of the BSA, every scout leader who saw or heard or knew, or was told, a silent partner in the sexual abuse of these children. Parents and the public have relied on the Scouts as a safe haven where they can entrust their children.

One hallmark of the Boy Scouts is that they aren’t a secret society, they are not supposed to hide things, and they encourage parent involvement and transparency.

Our innocence has been degraded. The last vestige of the good guys, the heroes has been tainted. It makes me sad, because I too, believed with my heart, in boys pledging Scout’s honor, earning merit badges, learning to tie a proper knot, aiding people in need, exploring the wilderness, and even the basics of conservation.  Those are the boys that turned into wonderful men.

Boy Scouts claim kids safer with them than at home

L.A. Times chat: Sexual abuse revelations in Boy Scouts of America files

Published on Aug 6, 2012 by Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times’ reporters Jason Felch and Kim Christensen reviewed more than 1,200 files, dating from 1970 to 1991 that make up part of a confidential Boy Scouts blacklist known as the “perversion files.”