For the Boy Scouts of America, the surge of over 92,700 new claims of sexual abuse may be the final nail in its coffin. Though the website touts bold videos and snappy content about “ youth safety” and that “BSA is one of the safest places for kids,” the lawsuits point elsewhere.
When the Boy Scouts of America, founded in 1910, filed for Bankruptcy in February 2020, it was no shock to the organization itself. The Boy Scouts of America not only filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy but also issued a public statement saying they were "outraged that there have been times when individuals took advantage of our program to abuse innocent children.”
Citing extreme, mounting financial strain due to sex abuse lawsuits, the now-Chapter 11 non-profit organization planned to reorganize and also create a victim’s compensation fund.
A judge deemed that there would be a deadline of November 16, 2020, for any alleged victims to come forth and file claims. As of Monday, the number of claims ballooned to 92,700 as the deadline ended, according to attorney Andrew Van Arsdale, who has been communicating with Boy Scouts alleged survivors for 19 months.
In a statement released by Van Arsdale, he said that in the Boy Scouts, it was a quiet but “unspoken norm” that scouts would endure sexual abuse. The organization has created a Victim's Compensation Trust that will offer compensation to victims.
"Based on what we are hearing from survivors, sexual abuse was a rite of passage in troops across the country, similar to other tasks where children had to ... perform certain duties to earn their coveted merit badges," Van Arsdale said in a public statement.
Claims of sexual abuse of young boys have been public since the 1940s. In 2019, court testimony reported the Boy Scouts of America knew that almost 8,000 of its former leaders had most likely sexually assaulted a minimum of 12,000 children in the organization’s history.
In an open letter to the public in February, National Chair of The Boy Scouts of America Jim Turley wrote that he was heartbroken by the sexual abuse of young boys and “outraged that individuals took advantage of our programs to commit these heinous acts.”
With claimants from around the US, it is expected the numbers of victims will be well over those of similar sexual abuse cases against the Catholic Church.
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