FOG724, I do not recall when the Youth Protection Program began -- it is possible that the two-deep leadership requirement was not in effect when the first molestations took place. However, I'm a believe that the two-deep leadership requirements of Youth Protection are designed to keep Scout leaders out of a he said/he said situation with one Scout. You always have another adult to back up your story. Somebody who wants to molest Scouts is going to ignore the two-deep requirement anyway.
Two thoughts regarding this:
First, this Scoutmaster was 23 when he became a leader. It's unlikely he had a Scouting-age child (6, for Tiger Cubs). I wonder if he is married or is a single 43-year old male leader. These are the situations that cause many Troop to turn down volunteer leaders who are single males or who do not have a child in the unit. It's unfair to young Eagle Scouts who want to contribute to Scouting in their early 20s, and to older men who want to be involved in Scouting, but who do not have a boy of Scouting age or a boy or girl of Venturing age. The last time I served as a Unit Commissioner, none of the BSA units I served would accept a single male leader out of fear that he was volunteering for the wrong reasons. Perverts like this one have made it impossible for some qualified volunteers to have a hard time finding a BSA unit to serve -- not having children in Scouting, or not being married, are considered red flags and no Troop Committee is willing or able to explore the virtues of these candidates.
Second, homosexual activists will say that this man is not a homosexual; they consider pedophilia to be a separate sexual orientation, not categorized by the genders of the predator and victim. FBI studies on child molestation state that homosexual pedophiles have many, many more victims on average than heterosexual pedophiles. Homosexual activists will continue to claim that male pedophiles molesting boys is not homosexuality -- until NAMBLA succeeds in making "sex before eight or else it's too late" the law of the land, at which time, the homosexual activists will embrace buggery with boys as a natural homosexual act.
Which is why I put the blame on the other leaders who should have been watching. This guy did not operate in a vacuum. Youth Protection has been employed in our Counsel for at least 11 years. The troop I was involved in did have not only young leader but older men who no longer had boys in the troop but the leadership structure and adhered to Youth Protection rules made it not only a fun troop but a safe one. But then our Committee Chair was Secret Service.
Many times I see articles here about Troops that leave me wondering about the leadership of those troops. One was the article about the boy getting a knife stuck in his head. Just what was that leader doing raking leaves in the dark with an open blade anyway?