Review: Scouts Honor: The Secret Files of the Boy Scouts of America

In any institution that involves children, there is the possibility of child sexual abuse, as the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia demonstrated so disturbingly.

The Boy Scouts of America is no exception.

This sober and horrifying documentary, directed by Brian Knappenberger, looks at the history of sexual abuse in US Scouting, the impact it had on its victims, and the institution's longtime denials and attempts to cover up the criminal behaviour its senior members knew was happening.

Despite public assurances that applicants for Scouting positions were carefully vetted, the organisation's secret Perversion Files - many of which were eventually leaked or revealed in court cases - detailed many, many cases of abuse.

They also showed that some people known to be abusers remained involved in Scouting.

One of the interviewees is former police detective Michael Johnson who for 10 years was the organisation's youth protection director.

The party line was that the Boy Scouts had to be promoted as a brand that was positive and safe.

But, ex-cop that he was, he strongly suspected the organisation withheld information from him.

Johnson comes off far more impressively than the Boy Scouts of America's general counsel Steve McGowan - whom Johnson says didn't approve of many of his ideas for protection.

McGowan spends a lot of time obfuscating and whatabouting (that much child abuse occurs in families is irrelevant to the subject at hand).

Patrick Boyle, who wrote the book that led to the film, is also interviewed, as are several now-adult victims of abuse, some of whom break down as they tell their stories.

What they say is heartbreaking and horrifying and only a few of many such cases.

Knappenberger's film is low-key rather than sensationalistic (the subject matter is scandalous enough as it is).

It is composed largely of talking heads, but there are also newspaper clippings and other media to provide some more information and visual variety. We could have done with fewer shots of Scout buildings and some more information on the history of abuse in the BSA would have helped place the discussion in a broader context.

The film could have gone deeper and broader but this would have made it longer and even more painful to watch: it makes its points effectively.

An institution's welfare cannot be prioritised over that of the people in its care, but as this film shows, too often that's what happened.

After decades of denial, the Boy Scouts of America issued an apology to survivors of sexual abuse in 2012.

In 2018, Scouts Australia issued its own apology after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

With more than 82,000 victims reported and more claims against it, the Boys Scouts of America entered bankruptcy in 2020 but continues to operate.

None of this is to deny that most people involved in Scouting everywhere are behaving appropriately and are there for altruistic reasons. Nor is it to say Scouting isn't worthwhile.

But in any institution, child safety needs to be the top priority, monitoring needs to be stringent, and if abuse does occur, it must be dealt with like any other crime.

Denial and concealment are wrong, and there are far too many examples of what happens when they occur - not just those discussed in this film or in the US but everywhere.

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