A U.S. Department of Justice watchdog found multiple troubling discoveries in a probe of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) handling of child sex abuse allegations. The news followed a report of its multiple failures in the handling of its investigation into convicted sex offender Larry Nassar.
A report released on Thursday, Aug. 29, reveals the FBI failed to follow requirements by reporting child sex abuse cases to law enforcement agencies nearly half of the time. The failures happened even after the agency vowed improvements following the Nassar case mishandling.
There were 327 sex abuse cases examined. Of them, the inspector general found that 47% saw no evidence passed along to law enforcement agencies by the FBI. When reports did get made, only 43% were done within 24 hours, as required by federal law.
The FBI responded to the investigation, stating, it “deeply values the trust the public puts in us to protect the most vulnerable members of society.” The agency added that it’s “committed” to making “the necessary improvements to ensure the important changes we made to our Violent Crimes Against Children Program in 2018 and 2019 have the intended effect of promoting the highest level of compliance and effectiveness.”
The probe follows years of litigation and nearly 140 million dollars the DOJ has paid out to settle 139 claims over the FBI’s multiple failures in the Nassar investigation.
John Manly, an attorney who represented hundreds of Nassar’s victims, including gymnast Simone Biles, said in response to the report, “The FBI is simply not doing its job when it comes to protecting our children from the monsters among us who stalk them.” He also called on Congress to take action to “reform the FBI.”