On Tuesday (April 23), attorney Jeff Anderson said that more than 12,000 young boys were sexually abused by over 7,800 of former Boy Scouts of America leaders. The numbers in question, as reported by CNN, came from the Boy Scouts of America itself through its volunteer screening database. "What hadn't been known to us is the real scope of this," Anderson stated.
"We care deeply about all victims of child abuse and sincerely apologize to anyone who was harmed during their time in scouting," the Boy Scouts of America said on Wednesday. "At no time have we ever knowingly allowed a perpetrator to work with youth, and we mandate that all leaders, volunteers, and staff members nationwide immediately report any abuse allegation to law enforcement." They added that anyone added to their volunteer screening database is removed from every scouting program in the country and are prohibited from rejoining.
The abuse took place between 1944 through to 2016. In a statement via NBC News on Wednesday, Anderson said that the Boy Scouts of America had the names of all those who allegedly committed sexual abuse locked away in "perversion files." He urged them to release the names of those who were accused of sexually abusing boy scouts.
"They may have removed them from scouting, but the Boy Scouts of America have never alerted communities that this scout leader, this coach, this teacher is known to be a child molester," Anderson continued. "That is the real alarming fact that needs to be mentioned today. It's systematic and across the country." In a response, Chief Scout Executive Michael Surbaugh said that they aren't hiding the names of the perpetrators.
"We do not keep any reports of suspected abuse secret from the authorities," Surbaugh said. He added that they've been maintaining the names of abusers since the 1920s. "They don’t need to be arrested or convicted of a crime to be added to our database," he said. Anderson, meanwhile, stated that the Boy Scouts of America were "blowing smoke."
"If they insist they are not hiding anything, then they should release the names and locations of the people they chose to put in the perversion files," Anderson said. "It would take just a couple of keystrokes."
He encouraged people impacted to reach out, and has since said that he has received over 200 allegations from victims of abuse, as The Washington Post reports.
