Part 1 - Inside the files
By: LEE BOWMAN, Scripps Washington Bureau
A Scripps investigation into the Boy Scouts of America's so-called "perversion files" from 1970 to 1991 reveals the organization often failed to protect youngsters from adult molesters within its ranks -- and in many cases covered up the allegations by failing to notify police.
By: LEE BOWMAN, Scripps Washington Bureau
Recent revelations about the Boy Scouts of America's decades-old "ineligible volunteer files" raise questions about the quality of youth protection today. How do organizations keep their young charges safe?
By: LEE BOWMAN, Scripps Washington Bureau
Watch for warning signs of child sexual abuse.
A set of Boy Scouts of America confidential files suggests Scout leaders victimized at least 2,000 Scouts from 1970 through 1991. This map shows the concentration of Scouts reportedly abused in each state.
Part 2 - Systemic failures
By: JENNI BERGAL, Scripps Washington Bureau
The Boy Scouts of America was plagued by systemic failures that left its young members at risk for decades, its confidential files show. The institution failed to conduct adequate background checks, allowing men with prior convictions, often for child molestation, into Scouting.
Part 3 - Scouts today
By: ISAAC WOLF, Scripps Washington Bureau
Though the Boy Scouts of America has improved its youth-protection system, at least 13 sexual predators have slipped through security gaps during the last decade.
By: ISAAC WOLF, Scripps Washington Bureau
Though background checks are a primary defense in keeping predators out of their ranks, the Boy Scouts of America doesn't use the best criminal database available. Nor do some other youth-serving groups.
By: LEE BOWMAN, Scripps Washington Bureau
The Boy Scouts of America is the oldest of several youth-service organizations operating under a congressional charter, and it has benefited over the years from special relationships with the federal government.
By: DALE MCFEATTERS, Scripps Washington Bureau
The Boy Scouts of America needs to convincingly demonstrate it has addressed problems with child sex abuse going back decades.
Extended interviews
Shaun McPherson
At age 13, Shaun McPherson was molested by Paul Koefoot in Lincoln, Neb. Never a Scout himself, McPherson and other young victims testified against the former acting scoutmaster, helping send him to prison. This fall, Scripps reporters surprised McPherson with the Boy Scouts' confidential file on Koefoot, revealing a much earlier accusation of sexual abuse that apparently wasn't reported to police. "All of this, with me and these other kids, could have been prevented a long time ago," McPherson said.
Adam Scheuritzel
As a 13-year-old Scout, Adam Scheuritzel was on a campout in Connecticut when younger Scouts told him they'd been attacked by their scoutmaster. Other leaders and parents quickly involved law enforcement. Scheuritzel wrote to Boys' Life, the Scouting magazine, encouraging an article to support victims of abuse. His unpublished letter remained in the confidential files.Tim Kosnoff
Tim Kosnoff is a Seattle attorney who has handled more than 100 child sexual abuse cases against the Boy Scouts of America. He first gained access to the confidential files while working on those cases, and he shared the files with the Scripps National Investigative team.
Extended interviews
Wayne Perry
Boy Scouts of America national president Wayne Perry explains why the organization continues to keep confidential files, and how it works with law enforcement today. He also explains why he's proud of what the Boy Scouts does to try to help kids.
Veronica Akins
Veronica Akins' son, Chance, was molested by Scoutmaster Melvin Christopher Estes in the late 1980s, sending the boy into a downward spiral, she said. Akins sued the Boy Scouts of America, taking her case all the way to the Texas Supreme Court.Clay Evans
Clay Evans was 13 when the scoutmaster of his troop in Boulder, Colo., tried to molest him, he said. A police investigation later determined that Floyd David Slusher had menaced nearly every boy in both of the troops he led. Evans talks about the impact of that experience over 30 years ago.Extended Interviews
Tom Stewart
Tom Stewart, abused for years as a child by his scoutmaster, reflects on his experiences with the Boy Scouts as a youth and, briefly, as an adult leader.
Patrick Boyle
Boyle wrote "Scout's Honor," a 1994 book examining child sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts of America.