Letter to the editor: Reparations for abuse are important

In his op-ed “Statute of limitations ‘window’ wrong path for past abuse cases” (Dec. 7, TribLIVE), Rep. Paul Schemel notes that “the growing cost of legal settlements relating to old claims of child sexual abuse by Scout leaders” is causing the Boy Scouts of America to increase its annual dues by 80% next year. He ends his letter by asking, “Put simply, what justice comes when a young Boy Scout of today must pay for the long-ago actions of adults he never met”?

I argue that this is the very definition of justice — an organization, liable and convicted of crimes against humanity, taking accountability for these crimes.

What that “young Boy Scout of today” (and his parents, who more likely pay the dues) learns is that such conduct — sexual abuse, and the deliberate, systematic cover-up of decades of such abuse by an organization — is wrong. That child learns that sexual abuse is damaging to individuals and their community — and reparations can be expensive. That child also learns that people care and will stand up for what is right.

Susan Wilson

Greensburg