Add another $18.5 million in punitive damages to the original $1 million in compensatory damages that the Boy Scouts of America must pay up in the lawsuit from Kerry Lewis, who then-scoutmaster Tim Dykes used as a fuck toy when Lewis was a little boy in the 1980s.
In a 9-3 vote, the jury opted $18.5 million, of which 60 percent goes to a state victims’ fund, would be sufficient (rather than the $25 million Lewis’ lawyers sought) to whip the Boy Scouts into shape in cracking down on sexual abuse.
If. Only.
Meanwhile, the Boy Scouts’ attorney Chuck Smith added his client has no reason to apologize. “You’ve heard the argument we haven’t apologized to the plaintiff, we haven’t apologized to the parents, we haven’t apologized to the country. Had there been an apology, what would these lawyers be telling you?: ‘Why did it take so long?’ … Is the only way to prevent child sexual abuse …to apologize?”
How about we take this to the next level?
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No, but it’s one way to show, say, remorse.
dvlaries
Appalling for more reasons than one. Twenty million would hardly qualify as carfare or pocket change to the Catholic Church, and they have been around a hell of a lot longer than the Boy Scouts.
Every new blurb about the escalating number of cases and payouts in the church mentions dates as far back as the 50s and, logically, that would suggest that any further back, the number of living (and forthcoming) survivors dwindles. Imagining back further is a time of far less mass communication, far less openness than the Donahue-Oprah culture we take for granted these days, and far more unquestioning deference toward an ages-old institution.
Though it’s horror story enough as is, we’ll probably never know the vastness and duration of adult-on-child sex crimes this monolith is guilty of. Keeping it unknown had to be easier then, not more difficult.
phil marlin
What’s with using the F bomb in the story! Clean it up!
Andy
@phil marlin: You could also grow up?
alan brickman
The boy scouts are much worse for sexual abuse…but they attract more gays than the church….sue the gays then?…
Michael
So they’re not sorry they covered it up? Sounds a lot like the Vatican. Speaking of, we have two the most homophobic institutions, the two get on their soap boxes to proclaim “No homosexuals allowed” and both have been sued out the ying-yang for allowing pedophilia to run rampant. Do we see a problem and a correlation here? It’s as if they spouted out so much homophobia as possible while not making a peep about what they truly were up to. Religion is a farce and it is way beyond evil.
B
No. 4 · alan brickman wrote, “The boy scouts are much worse for sexual abuse…but they attract more gays than the church….sue the gays then?” ….. wrong for many reasons.
1. It is simply not a gay problem. Pedophiles tend to be either fixated or regressed. The fixated ones include those who have not developed an adult sexual orientation. The regressed ones revert back to an earlier development stage temporarily due to stress, etc. Meanwhile the BSA’s policy is to not allow gays in the organization, but gays are no more likely to be pedophiles or abuse children than anyone else (and possibly less likely). Openly gay people who want to be involved are even less likely to abuse boys – the creeps who do that may be creeps, but most of them, including possibly a few gay ones, are at least smart enough to not say something that would automatically disqualify them. So by eliminating openly gay men, they’ve stacked the pool of candidates for BSA positions in favor of the child abusers. There’s “dumb and dumber,” and in the case, the BSA is in the “dumber” category.
2. How they rank compared to the Catholic Church is not at all
clear – the data is sketchy as a lot of it for both organizations
is probably well hidden. So far, we’ve probably just uncovered the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
3. The additional punitive damages are the BSA’s fault and the fault of no one else because the BSA got dinged for letting a bad situation of which they were aware continue. That’s what usually happens when people get hurt and you do nothing about the cause of the problem.
4. By not apologizing (probably on the advice of a lawyer who didn’t want them to say anything that would admit guilt), they probably helped convince the jury that they were arrogant and thumbing their noses at the law and society in general. You can blame the BSA for any punitive damages due to that. If you act like the French dudes in Monty Python and the Holy Grail and figuratively tell a jury, “I wave my private parts in your grandmother’s face and fart in your general direction,” (all with a bad French accent), don’t be surprised if the jury does something to get your attention. They really don’t like to have to sit there day after day while some clown goes out of the way to waste their time.
alan brickman
Somebody needs to get a life!….or a job….
Adam Sank
“Used as a fuck toy?” That strikes me as unusually salacious and highly inappropriate terminology to describe the rape of a child. How about a little sensitivity and common sense here, Queerty?
TO
Honestly, what is most disappointing of all is that the Boy Scouts are going to appeal the case and try to get it overturned. Hey Boy Scots, take some responsibility and man up, you look REALLY fat.