Police chiefs, prosecutors, clergy, etc. helped Scouts cover up molestation claims for a century.

[No Elephants]

Notice how the AP headline mentions neither law enforcement nor clergy, just "locals", like you know, Aunt Bea and her sewing circle and fellas down at the ye olde hardware store. And does not mention the Boy Scouts at all.

The author did his job correctly because the first paragraph of the story, though brief, gives the salient facts. Often, though, headlines are either written or edited by another person.

Again, studies have shown that many people read only headlines.

Oct 18, 10:57 PM EDT

"Perversion files" show locals helped cover up

By NIGEL DUARA
Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Again and again, decade after decade, an array of authorities - police chiefs, prosecutors, pastors and local Boy Scout leaders among them - quietly shielded scoutmasters and others accused of molesting children, a newly opened trove of confidential papers shows.

At the time, those authorities justified their actions as necessary to protect the good name and good works of Scouting, a pillar of 20th century America. But as detailed in 14,500 pages of secret "perversion files" released Thursday by order of the Oregon Supreme Court, their maneuvers allowed sexual predators to go free while victims suffered in silence.

The files are a window on a much larger collection of documents the Boy Scouts of America began collecting soon after their founding in 1910. The files, kept at Boy Scout headquarters in Texas, consist of memos from local and national Scout executives, handwritten letters from victims and their parents and newspaper clippings about legal cases. The files contain details about proven molesters, but also unsubstantiated allegations.

The allegations stretch across the country and to military bases overseas, from a small town in the Adirondacks to downtown Los Angeles.

At the news conference Thursday, Portland attorney Kelly Clark blasted the Boy Scouts for their continuing legal battles to try to keep the full trove of files secret.

"You do not keep secrets hidden about dangers to children," said Clark, who in 2010 won a landmark lawsuit against the Boy Scouts on behalf of a plaintiff who was molested by an assistant scoutmaster in the 1980s.

Very long story. Well worth reading. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCOUT_ABUSE_FILES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-10-18-22-57-28

How do you, in the same sentence call the Boy Scouts a pillar of society and say they protected child molestors? I wonder if the "pillar" language was inserted by an editor?

Of course, protecting molestors not only allows them to go free. It allows them to continue finding new victims to molest.

And the documented cover ups went on for a century.

Class warfare.

[Enthusiast]

1. Until the social justice movement

developed in the 1960s molestation existed in virtually every institution. It was universal. The Boy Scouts are no different.

Think of an institution where there were vulnerable children--there you will find molestation and it was nearly always covered up. Except in the unfortunate case of pregnancy, but even then. Before DNA testing it was always the girl's fault anyway.

In the case of brown women, girls and boys, there was zero justice. They might as well have told the dog they were raped, they would have received as much justice. Funny that this is never talked about in the media or 60 Minutes or anywhere. It is simply not emphasized.

[No Elephants]

2. I am sure it still exists in every institution. And no institution wanted to publicize it.

But, it was also always against the law.

What in hell were the cops, police chiefs and prosecutors thinking?

Why, of all laws to decide to ignore, did they ignore the laws protecting children from sexual molestation?