The BSA Must Release A Full Accounting of the Perversion Files

For at least 57 years, from 1947 to 2004, the Boy Scouts of America kept “Ineligible Volunteer Files” – better known as “Perversion Files” – on sexual predators in their midst.  The BSA LLC released some of these files in 2012, pursuant to an order from the Oregon Supreme Court.  In January 2013 the Los Angeles Times published a database of 5,431 “Perversion Files” – a few of which are duplications.

Peruse this database yourself.  Change 200 per page to 800 per page and the whole thing is reduced to seven pages.  Before the end of Page 4 of 7 you get to the files that are "Not available".  If I counted correctly, 2,476 cases are listed as "Not available" and 24 others are listed as "Pending" -- making 2,500 altogether.  These are the most recent files, from 1990 onward, the very predators most likely to be alive and still at large.

There is another database with explanations of many of these cases.  At least 847 “Perversion Files” from 1990 onward, more than one-third of the total, involve multiple victims.  The database lists the dates of the files, and the Cub Scout Pack, Boy Scout Troop, or Explorer Post in which the crimes took place, but does not name the perpetrators unless newspaper articles are cited.

In the “yumpu” database there are 355 “Perversion Files” from 1990 onward, about 14% of the total, in which the perpetrators were YOUTH MEMBERS (caps in original).  The BSA LLC claims that the current protocol of not allowing Boy Scouts ever to be with one adult at a time has solved the problem, but this is not true.  There is nothing to prevent sexual assaults by gangs of fellow Boy Scouts, as happened to me, by force, once behind a tent, and once in a bunkhouse.

This illustrates how the rape culture passes on down.  Not all sexual predators were adults when they started.  These kids were not born this way.  They learned how to do it.  Some were victims, and some were recruited – by scoutmasters, troop chaplains, or, in my council, by the Camp Directors.

Why are these “Perversion Files” not readily available?  All of these files identify the sexual predators.  Why are prosecutors not demanding them?  Why are these child molesters still being protected?

This is the Boy Scouts of America Limited Liability Corporation (BSA LLC).  It is functioning as designed.  The owners and directors are not personally liable for the company’s debts and liabilities.

Releasing the 2,500 “Perversion Files” from 1990 onward would provide corroborating evidence for the Boy Scouts who were brave enough to come forward.  The files are being withheld in order to protect the corporation.

I am fed up with hearing the BSA LLC telling us how devastated and heartbroken they are.  Their crocodile tears cannot disguise the reasons why they filed for bankruptcy.  They want to minimize their financial losses and save the corporation.  In so doing, they leave 2,500 sexual predators at liberty to find more victims.

By Richard Hayes Phillips