Child Sexual Abuse Expert - Schools & Organization

Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

Additional Information

Mr. Nichols has over 30 years’ experience at the national and local level involving the protection of children. Since 2016, he has served as an expert witness for plaintiff or defense in cases involving sex abuse and other types of harm to youth in schools, churches, camps, sports, buses, mentoring, scouting and afterschool programs. Examples from past cases include: • Afterschool program director molests teen girl • Scoutmaster molests boy • Adult mentor molests boy • Female school counselor molests boy • School assistant molests special needs girl • Karate club coach molests multiple teen girls • Swimming coach molests teen girl • High school golf instructor molests female student • Volunteer youth baseball coach molests multiple boys • Tennis instructor molests young girls • Male students molest special needs girl during school • Male student molests special needs girl on institutional van • School bus supervisor molests boy on bus • Boy molests girl on church van • Church volunteer molests pre-teen boy • Religious head harasses and molests seminarian • Minister molests girl • Church volunteer molests boy • Music instructor molests teen girl • Amusement arcade worker molests boy • Amusement park security staff molests girl • Child on child molestation at campsite • School athlete molests girl in locker room • Minor psychiatric patient accuses adult worker of molestation • Multiple boys molest boy at residential care facility • Upperclassman bullies and molests underclassman at military school • College campus religious mission trip results in accidental death • Unsupervised girl falls off roof at afterschool program • Tree felled during school volunteer workday injures student • Autistic boy killed after wandering off from camp activity Mr. Nichols is the retired National Vice President of Child Safety, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, where he oversaw new policies and practices improving the protection of millions of children served at thousands of local Club sites, across the U.S. and overseas. As a national thought leader, he has been involved in numerous national-level projects affecting child sexual abuse practices in organizations, including: • U.S. PROTECT Act Background Check Pilot Program • LexisNexis Customer Advisory Board on Background Screening • Revision of Staff Screening Toolkit, 3rd Ed. Nonprofit Risk Management Center • Creation of Preventing Child Sexual Abuse within Youth Serving Organizations: Getting Started with Policies and Procedures, Centers for Disease Control • Creation of Maryland Guidelines for the Design, Assessment & Modification of Physical Facilities & Spaces to Reduce Opportunities for Child Sexual Abuse • Revision of the Recommended Guidelines & Best Practices: Background Screening in Youth-Serving Organizations, 3rd Ed. In addition to working in the field of child sexual abuse prevention, Mr. Nichols is active in school violence prevention. He has assessed schools and other organizations in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi, Colorado, Utah and California. He serves as the recording secretary for the Technical Committee of the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS) and has co-authored a college-level textbook, Extreme Violence: Understanding and Protecting People from Active Assailants, Hate Crimes, and Terrorist Attacks 1st Ed. (2021), Cognella Academic Publishing. Mr. Nichols has authored over 40 publications addressing the protection of people from intentional and accidental injuries; presented at numerous conferences in the U.S. and abroad; been frequently quoted or cited in print, broadcast and digital media, and conducted numerous youth facility assessments across the U.S. and abroad. He holds a Master of Science in Security Administration, a Bachelor of Architecture and is a board-certified security specialist through ASIS International and the International Association of Professional Security Consultants.