Boy Scouts lagged in efforts to protect children from molesters

The Oregonian (5/23, Zaitz & Dungca) reports that, despite an 80-year history of instances of sexual abuse, the Boy Scouts of America has been exceedingly slow to adopt more modern standards of abuse prevention. Although the national organization has propagated sexual abuse awareness training materials to youth leaders and videos for Scouts to watch, the training materials are not mandatory (even for the paid employees) and the videos make no mention of the potential for Scout leaders to be predators (instead focusing on teachers, policemen, and other traditional authority figures). Moreover, the BSA has taken its time in enacting appropriate background checks for the adults to whom it entrusts the Scouts. Until 2008, adults who had been volunteering since before 2003 were not required to pass background checks when renewing their registration with the BSA. The BSA faces lawsuits for child abuse all over the country, and this is further evidence of its lack of concern over the possibility of predators among the ranks of its volunteers and employees.