EDITORIAL: Churches, Boy Scouts, and Youth Sports - Failure to Protect Children

EDITORIAL: Churches, Boy Scouts, and Youth Sports - Failure to Protect Children

There are now nearly non-stop reports of children being sexually abused. The perpetrators are working in the places we expect to be the safest environments for our children —  places are proving that they are not safe.

In fact, many of the crimes are decades old. It takes law enforcement and the prosecutors years to prosecute.

- On Monday, the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office announced that the Statewide Grand Jury returned an indictment charging a former staff member at the Yawgoog Scout Reservation with sexually assaulting a male victim under the age of 13 in 1986. The facility is operated by Boy Scouts of America.

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- On Tuesday, the AG announced that the Statewide Grand Jury has returned an 11-count indictment charging a former priest in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence with sexually assaulting a male victim under the age of 14 between 1989 and 1990.

- Last week, Father James W. Jackson, 66, who had been arrested on October 30, 2021 by the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force on state child pornography charges, made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court on a federal criminal complaint charging him with distributing child pornography, and possessing and accessing with intent to view child pornography. Distributing child pornography is punishable by a statutory penalty of up to twenty years in federal prison, with a minimum mandatory term of incarceration of five years. Possessing and accessing with intent to view child pornography is punishable by up to twenty years of incarceration.

- Also, over the past few weeks, there have been allegations that the former high school basketball coach at North Kingstown made students strip for so-called fat testing. At best it is horribly bizarre.

- And, Rhode Island businessman turned watchdog Stephen Griffin has unveiled how one of the largest youth programs — Global Premier Soccer — which is now defunct and two of its staffers have been indicted by the feds, created a scheme to violate immigration laws to bring in coaches to the United States and some have been alleged to have committed nefarious crimes.

Too often, those promising to protect our children are now emerging as a significant danger. Simple background checks are not enough. Parents must be empowered to ask more questions -- and, lawmakers need to be far more vigorous in creating protections for children.