The Boy Scouts of America has admitted in a recent letter to Congress that, in the past, the organization covered up sexual abuse of children by allowing credibly accused leaders to continue their roles.

According to Time, the century-old organization long maintained that the organization did not cover up any instances of sexual abuse of children that involved troop leaders.

“I have reviewed information that now makes clear to me that decades ago BSA did, in at least some instances, allow individuals to return to Scouting even after credible accusations of sexual abuse,” wrote BSA Chief Executive Michael Surbaugh in his letter to Congress.

This public acknowledgement is expected to push lawsuits across the country forward that were filed over sexual abuse of children.

But in Georgia, the repeated quashing of the Hidden Predator Act may mean that holding BSA troop leaders accountable may be more difficult.

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Georgia’s Hidden Predator Act has undergone changes that have made it very difficult to sue organizations like the Boy Scouts of America or even the Catholic Church. Both organizations lobbied against the House bill that expanded the statute of limitations so that adult survivors of sexual abuse could pursue litigation up until age 38 instead of the previous 23.

The law opened a one-year window where child sex abuse survivors of any age could sue. However, the Senate Judiciary Committee added a slew of amendments that would shield the organizations from liability, as well as lower the statute of limitations back down to age 30.

Although the committee chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee referred to the one-year window as an “open season” on organizations accused of a cover-up.

But Rep. Jason Spencer pointed out that a real “open season” would likely involve thousands of cases from 2015, yet there were only 14. “This bill essentially became inert,” Spencer said according to AJC reporters.

The recent admission from the Boy Scouts may push the state to add power to Georgia’s Hidden Predator Act—to remove some of the amendments that weaken it, expand the statute of limitations once again, and remove protections for organizations.

“They (the Boy Scouts) knowingly lied to Congress,” stated an attorney representing a group of four adults who claim they were sexually abused while they were Georgia Scouts and under the age of consent, according to an AJC report. “They should no longer be able to hide behind their good works when they’ve violated the law as well as their own moral code that they espouse.”

It is more difficult for survivors of sexual abuse in Georgia to seek legal justice than in many other states, according to Emma Hetherington, who is director of the Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic at the University of Georgia Law School.

“Very few perpetrators are ever charged, let alone convicted,” she said.

Unfortunately, sexual abuse in the ranks of the Boy Scouts may have been much more prevalent than previously believed. A researcher hired by the BSA to do an internal review found that more than 12,000 children have been sexually assaulted, and more than 7,000 troop leaders accused of abuse.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.