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American Morning
Research Reveals Sexual Abuse Problem in Boy Scouts Explorers
Aired June 25, 2003 - 08:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, ANCHOR: A nationwide program designed to give teens a better understanding of how police do their job now coming under fire.
According to research released today, some teenagers participating in the Boy Scouts Explorers program have been sexually abused by police officers. Over a 12-year period, 66 teens reported being sexually abused by officers; 31 came from the Explorer program, more than 12 of them in the past year alone.
The author of that report is a criminal justice professor of the University of Nebraska Omaha. Samuel Walker is our guest today in Omaha.
Professor, good morning to you.
SAMUEL WALKER, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA OMAHA: Good morning.
HEMMER: Just one case is too many. What's the significance that you're finding in this?
WALKER: Well, there appears to be a real pattern here of recurring abuse across the country. And what I think it really indicates is a failure of police departments in particular to supervise these programs and to supervise the officers in charge of them and to really investigate allegations of misconduct.
HEMMER: You say young girls are afraid to speak out. I want to give three specific reasons that you point out in your study. Out of embarrassment, fear of retaliation, and older teens, 18-, 19-year- olds, feeling at fault. How is this?
WALKER: Well, again, I think there's -- the younger ones are embarrassed about what they've done. They're afraid of retaliation. There are a few cases, I think, involving some of the older teens, maybe 18-, 19-year-olds, who they believe feel they haven't done anything wrong. But the officers themselves have engaged in misconduct insofar as they're engaging in sexual conduct in a police related program and they really need to be disciplined for that.
HEMMER: And the Boy Scouts of America put out a statement we're going to put up on our screen for our viewers to see. We'll get your reaction in a moment here. "Our primary concern is, and always has been, the safety of the youth involved in our programs. One youth being abused is one too many and we will always work to prevent child abuse."
You said something earlier there in your first answer. You say the problem's with the police departments more so. Is that right?
WALKER: Yes. I talked with the director of the Explorers' program, the Learning for Life organization. And they actually have some very good policies in place. Now, they need to be strengthened.
So I think the major responsibility at this point lies with the police departments. And so I think chiefs need to really screen officers assigned to these programs. They need to really do much better in the way of training.
And again, I want to emphasize that we really stumbled onto this Explorers' issue almost by accident.
HEMMER: Really? How so?
WALKER: Well, we were doing an update of our report from last year on driving while female, which is police officers sexually abusing women in traffic enforcement. And suddenly, we just started finding these teenage cases, not all of which are driving cases, most of them are not driving cases, actually. And we started looking further, and so we now have, you know, over the period covered, we have more teenage cases than we have traffic related cases.
HEMMER: Where do you find -- we talked about young women. What about young men? Did you find that in your study, as well?
WALKER: Yes, there are some. There are -- It's a minority, it's about 10 percent of all the teenage cases, but there are some cases involving male officers and teenage boys.
HEMMER: You know, Professor, what does it say to you about people in positions of power and authority who take advantage of that in a way that truly violates and offends young boys and girls in this country?
WALKER: Well, the potential for abuse is possible in all professions. That's true in teaching, my profession. That's true in the ministry; that's true in medicine; that's true in policing. The real issue here is what steps and what policies the various organizations have in place to prevent this from happening.
HEMMER: And are you finding that they're improving that or not?
WALKER: Some have and some haven't. As we speak today, there's going to be a major press release in Pennsylvania regarding misconduct by Pennsylvania state troopers. And that whole scandal originated with a 16-year-old girl. And it turns out that there's a huge problem in the Pennsylvania state police.
HEMMER: We'll follow that one, as well. Professor Samuel Walker, thanks from Omaha.
WALKER: Thank you.
HEMMER: Disturbing results but nonetheless, important news to get out there again today. Thanks, professor. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Explorers>
Aired June 25, 2003 - 08:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, ANCHOR: A nationwide program designed to give teens a better understanding of how police do their job now coming under fire.
According to research released today, some teenagers participating in the Boy Scouts Explorers program have been sexually abused by police officers. Over a 12-year period, 66 teens reported being sexually abused by officers; 31 came from the Explorer program, more than 12 of them in the past year alone.
The author of that report is a criminal justice professor of the University of Nebraska Omaha. Samuel Walker is our guest today in Omaha.
Professor, good morning to you.
SAMUEL WALKER, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA OMAHA: Good morning.
HEMMER: Just one case is too many. What's the significance that you're finding in this?
WALKER: Well, there appears to be a real pattern here of recurring abuse across the country. And what I think it really indicates is a failure of police departments in particular to supervise these programs and to supervise the officers in charge of them and to really investigate allegations of misconduct.
HEMMER: You say young girls are afraid to speak out. I want to give three specific reasons that you point out in your study. Out of embarrassment, fear of retaliation, and older teens, 18-, 19-year- olds, feeling at fault. How is this?
WALKER: Well, again, I think there's -- the younger ones are embarrassed about what they've done. They're afraid of retaliation. There are a few cases, I think, involving some of the older teens, maybe 18-, 19-year-olds, who they believe feel they haven't done anything wrong. But the officers themselves have engaged in misconduct insofar as they're engaging in sexual conduct in a police related program and they really need to be disciplined for that.
HEMMER: And the Boy Scouts of America put out a statement we're going to put up on our screen for our viewers to see. We'll get your reaction in a moment here. "Our primary concern is, and always has been, the safety of the youth involved in our programs. One youth being abused is one too many and we will always work to prevent child abuse."
You said something earlier there in your first answer. You say the problem's with the police departments more so. Is that right?
WALKER: Yes. I talked with the director of the Explorers' program, the Learning for Life organization. And they actually have some very good policies in place. Now, they need to be strengthened.
So I think the major responsibility at this point lies with the police departments. And so I think chiefs need to really screen officers assigned to these programs. They need to really do much better in the way of training.
And again, I want to emphasize that we really stumbled onto this Explorers' issue almost by accident.
HEMMER: Really? How so?
WALKER: Well, we were doing an update of our report from last year on driving while female, which is police officers sexually abusing women in traffic enforcement. And suddenly, we just started finding these teenage cases, not all of which are driving cases, most of them are not driving cases, actually. And we started looking further, and so we now have, you know, over the period covered, we have more teenage cases than we have traffic related cases.
HEMMER: Where do you find -- we talked about young women. What about young men? Did you find that in your study, as well?
WALKER: Yes, there are some. There are -- It's a minority, it's about 10 percent of all the teenage cases, but there are some cases involving male officers and teenage boys.
HEMMER: You know, Professor, what does it say to you about people in positions of power and authority who take advantage of that in a way that truly violates and offends young boys and girls in this country?
WALKER: Well, the potential for abuse is possible in all professions. That's true in teaching, my profession. That's true in the ministry; that's true in medicine; that's true in policing. The real issue here is what steps and what policies the various organizations have in place to prevent this from happening.
HEMMER: And are you finding that they're improving that or not?
WALKER: Some have and some haven't. As we speak today, there's going to be a major press release in Pennsylvania regarding misconduct by Pennsylvania state troopers. And that whole scandal originated with a 16-year-old girl. And it turns out that there's a huge problem in the Pennsylvania state police.
HEMMER: We'll follow that one, as well. Professor Samuel Walker, thanks from Omaha.
WALKER: Thank you.
HEMMER: Disturbing results but nonetheless, important news to get out there again today. Thanks, professor. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Explorers>
