Wingate University, NC, USA.
J Interpers Violence. 2024 Aug;39(15-16):3352-3372. doi: 10.1177/08862605241230091. Epub 2024 Feb 29.
The Boy Scouts of America's (BSA's) Ineligible Volunteer (IV) files, commonly called the "perversion files," is a unique data set allowing researchers to examine organizational characteristics that allow for child sexual victimization. Despite the uniqueness of this data set, few researchers have examined it. The researchers examined a random sample of cases from the IV files of scout leaders who molested scouts. A situational crime theoretical model was employed as had been used in studies on the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal, proving effective. The researchers examined randomly selected from 1980 to 1999. Of initially examined 400 randomly selected cases, only 140 held retrievable data. The majority of the 140 cases did not have scouting victims, which resulted in a reduction to 48 cases. Beyond the several scouting forms, many files contained public domain information, including newspaper articles, police reports, criminal justice records, and/or records of civil litigation. Through both the scouting documents and the public domain records, the researchers identified six BSA-specific characteristics that allowed motivated adult leaders to molest their victims. These characteristics included (a) weak or inefficient incident reporting system, (b) failure to collect and review pertinent information, (c) organizationally legitimate reasons for one-on-one contact, (d) volunteer imbalance, (e) legitimate reasons for separation from protective adults, and (f) social status as a prophylactic defense. These structural characteristics are explored through descriptive statistics and specific case studies illustrating the phenomena. When the history of the IV files came to light through litigation, the BSA was forced to reconcile its past actions and develop new preventive measures. The Boy Scouts of America implemented various actions to protect the youth. Many of these protections specifically address structural characteristics.
美国童子军（BSA）的不合格志愿者（IV）档案，通常称为“变态档案”，是一个独特的数据集，允许研究人员检查允许儿童性受害的组织特征。尽管这个数据集具有独特性，但很少有研究人员对其进行研究。研究人员检查了从猥亵童子军的童子军领袖 IV 档案中随机抽取的案例。采用了情境犯罪理论模型，该模型已用于研究天主教会性虐待丑闻，证明是有效的。研究人员从 1980 年至 1999 年随机选择进行检查。最初检查了 400 个随机选择的案例，只有 140 个案例具有可检索数据。在这 140 个案例中，大多数没有童子军受害者，这导致案例减少到 48 个。除了几个童子军表格外，许多文件还包含公共领域信息，包括报纸文章、警察报告、刑事司法记录和/或民事诉讼记录。通过童子军文件和公共领域记录，研究人员确定了六个允许有动机的成年领导人猥亵其受害者的 BSA 特定特征。这些特征包括：（a）薄弱或低效的事件报告系统；（b）未能收集和审查相关信息；（c）一对一接触的组织合法理由；（d）志愿者不平衡；（e）与保护成年人分离的合法理由；（f）社会地位作为预防防御。这些结构特征通过描述性统计和具体案例研究进行了探讨，说明了这些现象。当 IV 档案的历史通过诉讼曝光时，BSA 被迫调和其过去的行为并制定新的预防措施。美国童子军采取了各种保护青年的行动。其中许多保护措施特别针对结构特征。
