The LA Times investigation:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-boyscouts-20120805-m,0,5822319.story

I don't know about y'all, but it's too damn much to read (triggering) in one sitting. And the link to some of the actual documents is worse. Note that the Keith M. Gardner file is a "vampire" report.

And the kicker is that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The full, complete "ineligible volunteer list" is currently being scanned and digitized to be put online and searchable by perp name -- should be online in the coming months.

I'm sure one of us will have a link, right? Laying bets on my perp's name.

No surprise perps would work to circumvent a system that had been set up to keep them out, or that they could often succede in the era before computers and telecommunications made counterring them more possible.

Though flawed, I am glad they made the effort.

The schools and the foster care system back when this started can barely be said to have acknowledged there to be a problem.

For reference, in the local troop where I grew up there was a group of larger boys perping the litler ones. They didn't go after me but some of my johns when I was doing sex work had been abused there.

I'm expecting my abuser to show up as a serial abuser.

Puffer

that was my story. us younger ones got "initiated" by the older, bigger, more experienced boys. at the time i saw them as huge men - but they were only a few years older than me. meanwhile the adult leaders were nowhere to be seen - off having a few beers or whatever. my parents said they sent me to scouts because it was supposed to "make a man of you" - i don't think it worked that way.

and i'm sure none of the boys' names will ever show up on a Scout list of perps. i doubt it ever got reported. we were too desperate for acceptance.

lee

This was similar to what went on in my troop. Sometimes there was no adult leadership. Then a perp became the leader. Abuse was rampant. The other scout troop in town was lead by an abuser.

I have noticed several months ago that two of the older boys in my troop were listed as offenders in the same general area.

Puffer

I hope the database goes back to 1959!

John

maybe i should check it out - maybe some of the older scouts went on to become leaders and perps themselves. can't help but wonder - if it might have been a tradition that was passed down and how far back it went?

Reuters reports today that the timeline on the full database going online is "three to four weeks." Mark your calendars.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/16/boy-scouts-face-release-o_n_1888838.html

Again, another conflicting report on how far back the files go. Some reports have said 1919, but this report says 1965.