SPEAK OUT: Boy Scout Files Detail Decades of Alleged Sexual Abuse

Some 14,000 pages of memos and letters went public this week alleging that between 1965 and 1985 the Boy Scouts catalogued reports of sexual abuse of more than 1,000 Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts from 1965 to 1985.

The Boy Scouts kept the files as a way to track banned Scout leaders and volunteers. The files went public as a result of a 2010 lawsuit in the Oregon Supreme Court.

New criminal prosecutions are not expected because the statute of limitations has lapsed, reported ABC News.

However, the Boy Scouts will likely face a wave of civil lawsuits, the success of which will vary from state to state, reports The Los Angeles Times.

The Boy Scouts of America acknowledged that in some cases, the organization’s response was “plainly insufficient, inappropriate, or wrong,” according to a statement on its website.

“Where those involved in Scouting failed to protect, or worse, inflicted harm on children, we extend our deepest apologies to victims and their families,” according to the statement.

“While it is difficult to understand or explain individuals’ actions from many decades ago, today Scouting is a leader among youth serving organizations in preventing child abuse.

"The BSA requires background checks, comprehensive training programs for volunteers, staff, youth and parents and mandates reporting of even suspected abuse. We have continuously enhanced our multi-tiered policies and procedures to ensure we are in line with and, where possible, ahead of society’s knowledge of abuse and best practices for prevention.”

The L.A. Times compiled its own database of nearly 5,000 cases in which adults were banned from the organization as a result of abuse allegations from 1947 to January 2005.

About 90 of those cases trace back to a troop or unit in Maryland, mostly in Baltimore, The Baltimore Sun reports. The earliest Maryland case was in District Heights in 1959; the most recent in Clear Spring in 2004.

Eight of the cases in the L.A. Times database originated in Montgomery County:

• Bethesda - 1966 and 1994
• Wheaton - 1980
• Silver Spring - 1993
• Kensington - 1994
• Takoma Park - 1996
• Gaithersburg - 2001
• Potomac - 2001

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