The Justice Department’s internal watchdog has found continued shortfalls in the FBI’s handling of tips about child sexual abuse despite a series of changes put in place following the bureau’s bungled handling of the Larry Nassar scandal.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s office examined 327 cases between October 2021 and late February 2023. It says it found no evidence that FBI employees complied with mandatory reporting requirements to local or state law enforcement in nearly half the cases.
“It’s critically important that the FBI appropriately handle all allegations of hands-on sex offenses against children,” Horowitz said. “Because failure to do so can result in children continuing to be abused and perpetrators abusing more children.”
In one of the cases examined in the audit, the inspector general’s office found that a registered sex offender allegedly victimized a minor for a 15-month period after the FBI initially became aware of the abuse allegations.
In its response to the audit, the FBI said in a letter to the IG that it takes seriously the “significant compliance issues” outlined in the report, and will “continue to work urgently to correct them.”
The latest inquiry follows the inspector general’s examination of how the FBI handled sexual abuse allegations against Larry Nassar, the longtime USA Gymnastics doctor who sexually abused gymnasts—including members of the U.S. women’s national team-—for years.
FBI had vowed to change
In that case, the FBI took few steps to act on tips that Nassar abused young gymnasts, and also failed to share information with other FBI offices or state and local authorities.
In the wake of the Nassar scandal, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the bureau's failed to protect the victims.
"It never should have happened, and we're doing everything in our power to make sure it never happens again," he told Congress at the time.
At the same time, the FBI began to make changes to how it documents and reviews cases of child sexual abuse, including steps to ensure that complaints are addressed quickly.
But the new report from the inspector general makes clear that the FBI is still falling short in several areas, including in reporting suspected child abuse to other law enforcement agencies, and in sharing of tips with other FBI field offices.
In a statement, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin (Ill.), said “it’s shameful that the FBI is continuing to fail victims.”
“Today’s report shows that new policies implemented by the FBI to address these egregious failures are effectively being ignored, leading to similar abuses as seen in the Nassar investigation," he said.
Also flawed tip system
All FBI personnel are required to report suspected child abuse to state, local and tribal law enforcement and social services. But in 47% of the cases the inspector general reviewed, it found “no evidence” that FBI employees complied with mandatory reporting requirements.
Of the reports that were filed, it said, only 43% were made within 24 hours, as required by FBI policy.
The inspector general found similar shortcomings with the FBI’s compliance with its new tips management system, including a policy that requires verbal contact and a confirmed receipt when transferring abuse complaints or cases between FBI field offices.
The report found that the FBI did not document and process all allegations into its new system, and in 73% of cases or allegations transferred between field offices, there was no evidence of verbal contact or confirmed receipt as required by FBI policy.
Durbin, the Judiciary Committee head, said he would hold a hearing on the matter later this year.
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