One lawsuit in Minnesota shone a light on the so-called "perversion files" of the Boy Scouts of America. A consultant hired by the Scouts revealed in court that the files revealed some 7,800 troop leaders had abused more than 12,000 scouts from the 1940s through this decade.
Records show about 130 of the predators currently live in New York.
Thankfully, justice could be coming. The Child Victims Act, signed into law by Gov. Cuomo in February, opens up a "lookback" window allowing survivors to sue predator individuals and organizations who may have covered up the abuse. While the focus has been on the Catholic Church and other religious groups as possible vulnerable to legal action, clearly other private organizations may face a reckoning.
And rightly so.
The window opens up in August. We encourage those who have suffered in silence for so long to come forward.
