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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – The White Plains Daily Voice will head into the New Year by counting down, in no particular order, the top 10 headlines from 2012.
A White Plains man was one of more than 1,500 names in the Boy Scouts of America's "perversion files," which an Oregon judge made public Oct. 18 during a trial.
The worldwide list dates back to 1965. It includes the names of men from White Plains, Scarsdale, Rye, Mohegan Lake and Ossining who are among scout volunteers banned because of allegations of sexual misconduct. Not all of the people on the list were actually charged with any crime.
The Boy Scouts of America website says it has kept the “perversion files,” also known as the Ineligible Volunteer Files, to “keep scouts safe.”
The records were central to a 2010 lawsuit, Lewis vs. Boy Scout of America, brought by former Boy Scouts alleging they were sexually abused. The law firm of O’Donnell, Clark & Crew, which represented six former scouts in the case, posted the information online, and say while some cases in the “perversion files” have been substantiated in court, many more have never been reported to authorities.
"The files are kept confidential by Scouting because the BSA believes that confidentiality encourages prompt reporting of abuse," according to the BSA website. "However, their existence as part of the BSA's Youth Protection efforts is well-known and publicly acknowledged."
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