Sexual violence
Study: More than 100 cases of abuse among Boy Scouts
The Association of Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts was founded in 1976. photo
© Fredrik von Erichsen/dpa
Thousands of children and young people in Germany are in the Boy Scouts. There were sexual assaults there too. These have now been examined for the first time in a nationwide study.
More than 100 affected people and dozens of accused: A study has numerous Cases of abuse among the Boy Scouts in Germany are listed. The investigation, which was presented by the Institute for Practical Research and Project Consulting (IPP) in Munich, assumes that there are at least 50 accused and 123 affected people in the Association of Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts (BdP).
According to the study, there are also 24 accused and 26 affected people who come from the “boy scout context” but do not belong to the association. According to the BdP, this is the first such investigation in Germany that relates to a youth association.
Perpetrators almost exclusively male
According to the scientists, just as many girls as boys were affected, but the perpetrators were almost exclusively male. According to the study, there are “two prototypes”: the older, adult scout and the teenager or young adult “who uses his position as a leadership figure to sexually exploit younger people.”
The IPP Munich, which, among other things, investigated sexual violence in the Odenwald School and in the Upper Bavarian Catholic monastery Ettal, carried out the study together with “Dissens – Institute for Education and Research” in Berlin. The focus of the study is on the years between 1976 and 2006. The researchers assume that there is a high number of unreported cases – partly because no information at all was provided from some federal states.
The Association of Boy Scouts was founded in 1976, says it is interdenominational and non-partisan and has around 30,000 members. The aim of his educational work should be to convey to children and young people “a sense of community and responsibility, cosmopolitanism and environmental awareness”.
“We are shocked at how many places the BdP has failed to protect its members from sexual violence and (power) abuse in the past,” said BdP federal chairwoman Annika Schulz. “There was silence, people looked the other way.”