Scout abuse files spark public interest

A website with newly released files showing the Boy Scouts of America's cover-up of decades of sexual abuse is generating interest from people wanting to know who the alleged abusers are and whether people who molested them as Scouts are in the files.

Release of the files has also prompted a debate on the Boy Scouts' Facebook page. Some people said they'd never allow their children to be involved in the Scouts and criticized the years of secrecy.

Others described positive experiences in the Scouts for themselves or their children, saying the organization's efforts to prevent abuse have improved significantly.

The 14,500 pages of Scout files, from 1959-1985, were posted Thursday on the website of Kelly Clark, the Portland, Ore., attorney who used the files as evidence in a 2010 lawsuit he won against the Scouts. The website got more than 200,000 hits within the first few hours of the files' posting, crashing the site.

The Scouts have said they plan to review every file from 1965 to the present and, in cases where it's unclear whether the incident was reported to police, the Scouts said they may contact authorities.

For those who say they were molested, statutes of limitations in most states would prevent many people from filing lawsuits or criminal charges, Clark said. But in some cases -- like a first-degree sexual assault in New York -- the state has set no time limit.