The Boy Scouts of America prohibit scout leaders from having one-on-one contact with scouts. All trips and outings must be led by at least two adult scout leaders. The Boy Scouts have several other policies designed, not only to protect its youth members from sexual predators and child abusers, but also to protect its adult leaders from false accusations of abuse. On one hand, the Boy Scouts’ policy reflects an awareness of the increasing vulnerability of adult males in positions in which they have contact with children. On the other hand, the policies reflect the growing and unhappy perception that adult males should not be trusted to be alone with our children. This perception has additional support. Child advocate, John Walsh, recently advised parents to never hire a male babysitter. Airlines have begun placing unaccompanied minors with only female passengers. Many soccer leagues are telling male coaches not to touch players.
An unnatural preoccupation with the threat of sexual abuse in not new in this country. In the 1980s the United States faced an epidemic of sexual abuse accusations in day care centers. In high-profile cases across the country prosecutors charged day care providers with hundreds of counts of sexual abuse. In California, the McMartin Preschool trial dragged on for seven years, included accusations by hundreds of children, and resulted in not a single conviction. In New Jersey, a child care provider at the Wee School Nursery School was convicted of 115 counts of sexual abuse. Her conviction was overturned, but not until she had served five years in prison. A combination of questionable witness interviewing methods and general hysteria is now widely blamed on the false accusations and the lives they ruined. What was learned is that children cannot always be trusted to tell the truth, and that adults cannot always be trusted to know when they are lying.
Despite lessons learned from the sexual abuse witch hunts of the past, false allegations remain a professional hazard for those who work with children in general, and males in particular. Teachers, counselors, coaches, child care providers, and those who participate in volunteer programs such as Big Brother/Big Sisters remain vulnerable to false accusations of abuse. It is a sad truth that, when it comes to accusations of child sexual abuse, defendants are considered guilty until proven innocent. Worse, proving one’s innocence can be a grueling and expensive ordeal. By the time a sexual abuse case goes to trial, the reputation of a defendant has usually already been destroyed. It is no wonder then, that many males have tried to protect themselves against the threat of false accusations.
In his 2007 Wall Street Journal article, Jeff Zaslow discussed emails he received from men who have grown fearful of encounters with children. One former Boy Scout leader indicated that “Today, I wouldn’t do that job for anything. All it takes is for one kid to get ticked off at you for something and tell his parents you were acting weird on the campout.” Another man indicated that he would not even allow himself to be alone in an elevator with a child for fear of being accused of behaving improperly. Other men are afraid to even make eye contact with unknown children. While these precautions may appear to border on the paranoid, they accurately reflect the climate of fear that currently surrounds adult male/child relationships. It could be argued that, when society as a whole points its finger at men, its children are likely to follow. From that perspective, an abundance of caution appears less paranoid, and more prudent. As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Tags: boy scouts, false accusations