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Amanpour & Co. PBS
“An American Tragedy:” Boy Scouts Sexual Abuse Survivor Tells His Story
A new documentary investigates the Boy Scouts of America and some 82,000 claims of sexual abuse against the youth organization -- complete with firsthand accounts from survivors. Director Irene Taylor and former Boy Scout Stuart Lord join Hari Sreenivasan to discuss a century-long coverup.
John Humphrey (L) and Stuart Lord (R). Screenshots from the HULU documentary film, LEAVE NO TRACE
Leave No Trace: Child Sexual Abuse in Boy Scouts of America
Survivors John Humphrey and Stuart Lord sat down with RAINN’s (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, a non-profit organization) senior content writer and strategist, Sierra Scott, to discuss the experience of sharing their stories in Leave No Trace, how it has affected their healing journeys, and what they think institutions like the Boy Scouts of America can do to keep children safer.
GOOD MORNING AMERICA
'Leave No Trace’ explores sexual abuse within Boy Scouts of America
The new documentary, which streams on Hulu and premiers in theaters on June 16, explores the fall of the long-respected organization.
Scouts' Honor. (Photo illustration by Mick Hangland-Skill)
How Portland Filmmakers Discovered Sexual Abuse Unchecked in the Boy Scouts of America
A documentary premiering this week spotlights survivors’ quest for justice as they seek acknowledgment from the Scouts for shattering their lives.
Not long before the pandemic, Portlander Irene Taylor met a friend for drinks downtown and heard a story that blew her mind. The friend knew someone whose full-time job was to take calls from men who were sexually abused as kids in the Boy Scouts.
There were so many victims, she said, a Pearl District law firm had hired a social worker to help with the deluge of calls from broken men.
“I really thought about that—40 hours a week, all you do is field phone calls about men who were once boys, who were abused by one organization,” Taylor says. “How does that keep you busy for months and years at a time, full time?”
The True Story Behind Hulu's Boy Scouts Documentary Leave No Trace
For more than a century, the Boy Scouts were a bastion of archetypal American iconography and values. “It’s apple pie, it’s baseball, it’s mom, it’s Fourth of July, it’s the American flag, it’s Norman Rockwell, it’s everything” says journalist and former scout Nigel Jaquiss in the new Hulu documentary Leave No Trace. Then in February of 2020, Boy Scouts of America (BSA) filed for bankruptcy in response to sexual abuse claims levied by more than 82,000 former scouts. It was a decisive blow to the organization, which was revealed to have been systematically covering up the abuse of the children in its care throughout its existence.
Boy Scouts Examining Specimens on Dock (Getty Images/Ed Bock)
"We got groomed": 5 horrifying revelations from Hulu's Boy Scouts abuse documentary "Leave No Trace"
Hulu's two-hour film revisits the rampant sexual abuse that took place within the Boy Scouts of America for decades
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA), once hailed as "a vital factor in American life," has long preached the importance of moral behavior, instilling a sense of trust among families that its programs can transform young boys into disciplined, well-rounded men.
Revered as one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the nation, the BSA touts over 1 million participants and an impressive alumni, including Neil Armstrong, President John F. Kennedy and Steven Spielberg. Being a Scout became more than just donning a tan troop uniform complete with a patrol emblem and a merit-badge sash. It was about upholding — and embodying — the institution's principal promises: 1) Duty to God and country 2) Duty to other people and 3) Duty to self.
A Delaware bankruptcy judge has approved a $2.46-billion reorganization plan proposed by the Boy Scouts of America. Tony Gutierrez / AP
Bankruptcy Judge Approves Boy Scouts’ $2.46-Billion Reorganization Plan
A bankruptcy judge has approved a $2.46-billion reorganization plan proposed by the Boy Scouts of America that would allow it to keep operating while compensating tens of thousands of men who say they were sexually abused as children while involved in Scouting.
Click on image to view video on USA Today website.
Nearly 90,000 File Sexual Abuse Claims Against the Boy Scouts in Unprecedented Case
The Boy Scouts organization has faced civil litigation since a 2010 case resulted in $19.9 million in damages, the largest ever for a single individual against the organization. As a result of that case, the Scouts were forced to release more than 20,000 confidential documents.
The Deer Lake Boy Scout Reservation in Killingworth, Conn. is among many nationwide being sold by local councils as membership dwindles and the organization raises money to pay sexual abuse victims as part of a bankruptcy settlement. Pat Eaton-Robb, AP
Boy Scouts Plan to Exit Bankruptcy Approved, Signaling End to Largest Sex Abuse Case of its Kind
Survivors have three options:
Accept an expedited $3,500 that requires minimal documentation and vetting;
See where they fall on a matrix with compensation ranges based on the type of abuse, which may require additional documentation;
Pursue an independent review process intended to replicate the award they might have received in a civil court case.
A statue stands outside the Boy Scouts of America headquarters in Irving, Texas. LM Otero/AP
Boy Scouts to Exit Bankruptcy After $2.46b Sex Abuse Settlement Approved
The Boy Scouts of America secured approval of a $2.46bn reorganization plan from a bankruptcy judge on Thursday that will allow the youth organization to exit Chapter 11 and settle decades of claims by more than 80,000 men who say they were abused as children by troop leaders.