Scout's Honor

by Patrick Boyle

Book Overview

Scout's Honordetails decades of sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts, one of the country's most respected youth organizations. Drawing on interviews with victims, lawyers, prosecutors, and even convicted molesters, Patrick Boyle paints a distressing but accurate picture of betrayal in a place we all thought was safe.About the Author Patrick Boyleis a veteran journalist whose reports on child abuse, mental illness, and drug addiction have won awards from...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1559583657
• ISBN13: 9781559583657
• Release Date: March 1994
• Publisher: Prima Lifestyles
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

mormon church and scouting

interesting note is that the mormon church is the largest participant in scouting comprising 28 per cent of the scout councils. And Thomas S Monson, the current "Prophet" of the Mormon church was on the board of directors for scouting for 40 years while the scouting organization knew there was a high number of molestations and quietly hid that fact. Prior to 1991 there were two allegations a day of scoutmasters involved in molestation. After 1991, there were three a day. Monson was on the board of directors during those years. I had a cousin repeatedly molested by a mormon scoutmaster who went on to many problems in life and ultimately committed suicide in his early 40's. I also know of 5 other men molested by a mormon scoutmaster...they all went on to various problems, 1 shook his baby to death, another committed suicide. Utah, capitol of Mormonism with the majority of population being mormon has the number 1 rate in the nation of teen suicide for 14 straight years now. It's number 8 in the nation for child abuse (dept of health and human services) and number 1 state in the nation for anti depressants. Worst of all, it's number 1 in the nation for internet crimes against children. Pretty telling. Interesting they chose a leader who did next to nothing about molestations in scouting all those years.

a shocking page-turner

An emotional and disturbing tale of scoutmasters who have deceived whole communities, the boys they've molested, the parents who were somehow oblivious until it was too late, and the scout officials who didn't understand their own policies and for years underestimated the scope of the organization's problem. Something a previous reviewer seems to have missed, and perhaps one of the reasons these things often go unreported, is that these guys aren't always forcing themselves upon the youngsters. Sometimes the men are master manipulators who convince the boys that what they are doing is normal and that they care for them more than their own parents. This is the case with one of the main characters in this book. Of course, this isn't always the case. Sometimes they use intimidation and fear to keep the boys quiet. In any case, years later some such boys grow up to be abusers too and there is a cycle that goes on. This is also detailed in the book. Fortunately, the Boy Scouts have put into place new policies in recent years, probably in part thanks to this book. Basically, it is against BSA policy for adult leaders to ever be alone with a boy or sleep in the same tent with boys. Also, leaders now have to go through a criminal background check. Unfortunately, the fixes won't stop every molester, especially when parents aren't on the ball. It's important that the parents be aware of these rules and not just always trust the leaders to be following the rules. There was one story in the book of a group of pedophiles who worked together to start a scout troop, so if you see a troop where none of the leaders are parents you should be cautious. Make sure to know who these people are. Finally, the main character in this book was not just a boy scout leader, he was also a junior high school teacher, and many of the boys he molested were not scouts. Bottom line is that parents should in general not trust other adults to be alone with their kids and watch out for any warning signs. I think parents and community leaders should read this book to have a better understanding of the problem. A word of warning to the reader: this book includes graphic details of molestation and can be disturbing.

Boy Scouts and the Catholic Church: parallel universes?

Patrick Boyle does a masterful job of illustrating how adult male homosexual pedophiles could fool whole communities of parents into thinking they had the best interests of their boys at heart while at the same time were intimidating their boys into having non-consensual sex right under the parent's noses. It's chilling to learn how the parents defended pedophile after pedophile as being "falsely accused" or "good men" while often refusing to take the boys' word that the Scout leader had coerced them into having sex. When I read the newpaper articles about how the Roman Catholic church hid their pedophile problem for years, as did the Boy Scouts, I see the same play but with different actors. If you want to get an insight into how pedophiles think, work, and act, read Scouts Honor. Don't, however, make the mistake of thinking that when the Boy Scouts got rid of their pedophiles, the pedophiles quit molesting. They are probably just "working" another youth organization using the same methods they used to infiltrate the Boy Scouts. Good book.

Uncovers The True Evils in a Utopian Fantasy

As a victim and scout myself, I found this book to be an investigative feet with stories from all sides. It is a must read if you want to know how so many molesters can offend the nation's most trustworthy and honest youth in the worst way.

Good reading. If you are concerned about the topic

I wish there were books like it that dicussed abuse in other organizations such as church, and sports.