A Norman Rockwell painting of a Boy Scout at an exhibition in 2013. (Rick Bowmer/Associated Press) [1]
To sign the Change.org petition calling for Congress to hold oversight hearings on the Boy Scouts of America:
Join us in Demanding a Congressional Hearing on the BSA Sexual Abuse Scandal
This petition is calling on Congress to take responsibility and hold oversight hearings on the Boy Scouts of America sexual assault debacle. In 1916, Congress granted the Boy Scouts of America a rare Congressional Charter, effectively giving them a monopoly and an implied governmental Seal of Approval; in addition, Congress is delivered an annual report by the BSA and has responsibility to act on behalf of the thousands of victims.
Since then, the Boy Scouts of America have been found responsible for the largest sexual assault case in US history; in August, 2022 a US Bankruptcy Court judge approved a $2.5 billion settlement for over 82,000 victims of sexual abuse by Boy Scout leaders.[2] BSA Administrators and Scout Leaders are responsible for this abuse of young scouts over multiple generations, and Congress must act.
BACKGROUND
For more than a century, the Scouts have derived prestige and enjoyed a near monopoly on Scouting thanks to the charter Congress granted the organization in 1916.[3] Such charters are relatively rare and confer enormous benefits on the groups who hold them.
Since then, the Boy Scouts organization failed in its basic duty to keep boys safe, as affirmed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge who approved a $2.5 billion (and likely to grow larger) award to nearly 82,000 survivors of sexual abuse. This is the largest sexual assault award in US history.
Court records show that since the 1920s BSA senior leadership knew pedophiles lurked within the organization.[4]
The Scouts’ secret files about those men, some of which have now been made public, show that the organization put its own financial well-being and the compensation of its employees ahead of all else. Rather than turning over the files to law enforcement, the Scouts allowed pedophiles to get away with their crimes. Even after the Scouts implemented new youth protection policies around 1990, the problem persisted – more than 11,000 of the survivors in the bankruptcy case reported being abused after 1990.[5]
Many men died before they told their stories. Countless others have not yet come forward (statistics show that the majority of survivors come forward during or after middle age). And for many others, the fear, shame and trauma they have experienced may never allow them to speak.
The bankruptcy settlement, brought about by BSA’s refusal to fix a broken organization, is woefully inadequate and leaves much work to be done. The current settlement amount is projected to provide victims an average of less than $30,000 each – a small fraction of what sexual abuse victims received in other large-scale similar cases.[6] The bankruptcy settlement is a first step – not the final word.
For example, the BSA leadership continues to refuse to mandate background checks – like those required for all teachers and licensed childcare providers – for their Scout Leaders nationwide.
In 2000, some Members of Congress demanded a hearing on whether the Scouts should retain their congressional charter after the Boy Scouts fought all the way to the United States Supreme Court (successfully) to preserve the right to discriminate against gay scouts and scout leaders.
The Scouts prevailed at that time, but Congress’ decision to preserve the status quo occurred before the trickle of sexual abuse lawsuits against the Scouts turned into a raging torrent.
Congress has in the past shown a willingness to summon other chartered organizations to Capitol Hill for thorough hearings, including the United States Olympic Committee and the American Red Cross.[7]
We ask now that members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, which historically oversee chartered organizations, investigate for themselves the conduct that hurt so many Scouts. We then ask that those committees investigate the epidemic of sexual abuse within the Boy Scouts of American public Congressional hearings, including: (a) how this epidemic of abuse could happen over decades despite Congressional oversight; (b)whether the Boy Scouts of America should now be required to release its secret files in the interest of preventing future abuse; and (c) what additional avenues may exist to provide further support and justice for victims.
More than 130 million Americans have taken part in some aspect of Scouting since BSA’s founding in 1910.[8] Tens of millions of those former scouts are alive today. They deserve to know why, after all the lives the Scouts have damaged, the organization still carries what amounts to a Congressional seal of approval.
We hope Members of Congress will agree.
1. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/us/boy-scouts-bankruptcy-norman-rockwell.html
2. https://apnews.com/article/sexual-abuse-boy-scouts-of-america-c52a60cd7b0b3df5b6e9c6247837611c
3. https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title36/subtitle2/partB/chapter309&edition=prelim
4. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/nyregion/boy-scouts-sex-abuse.html
6. Survivors of sexual abuse by Dr. Larry Nassar received an average total settlement of $1.76m per person. See: https://www.npr.org/2021/12/14/1064011251/usa-gymnastics-settles-abuse-claims-involving-former-team-doctor-larry-nassar; see also: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/larry-nassar-victims-settlement-380-million-usa-gymnastics/. Similarly, in March 2022, The University of Southern California agreed to pay an average of about $1.2M per victim. See: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-25/usc-payout-gynecologist-sex-abuse-claims-to-top-1-billion