Scouts’ duty to the truth

LITTLE ROCK — Duty. Honor. Country.

The Boy Scouts of America have been teaching those values for decades. Generations of boys have benefited from the training they’ve received. Many leaders with roots in Scouting have put their mark on America.

But we’ve now learned that the Irving, Texas-based organization, for 20 years or more, forgot its most essential value—honesty—in the midst of transgressions against children.

From 1970 to 1991, according to a Los Angeles Times investigation, the Boy Scouts of America did not report hundreds of suspected child molesters to authorities. Nor did the Scouts always let parents or the public know about the incidents.

Instead, the newspaper discovered, Scouting officials let the molesters quietly exit the program. As if that behavior wasn’t sufficiently atrocious, they masked some abuses through bogus excuses.

So much for doing one’s duty at all times and being loyal to the truth.

The Boy Scouts’ long-term response to this tragedy will determine whether the once-esteemed institution continues to earn the faith of American parents and youth—and whether it can regain the trust of those who now fear the organization.

The nation, as well as local communities and individual families, have much to gain from scouting’s positive role in boys’ development. Young men learn how to create and manage projects. They discover how to respect nature. And they become mentors to others. But none of that matters if parents can’t be sure that their children are safe.

The Times reported in August on more than 125 cases in which suspected molesters allegedly kept abusing young Scouts. The paper reported that a blacklist has existed since 1919 to try to keep predators away from boys. But obviously that list was far from sufficient.

The Scouts began requiring staff background checks in the 1990s and in 2008 extended that requirement to all volunteers. The organization also has increased child-abuse-prevention training. Since 2010, a Scout spokesman says, members have been required to report even suspicion of abuse to local authorities.

According to the Times, the organization has neither released nor analyzed more recent files, so it’s impossible to determine whether the new policies are working.

Parents and sons alike will have valid questions going forward, and attentive leadership is needed, starting at the Boy Scouts headquarters, to address concerns. The organization must get back to its first principles and get back there fast.