I doubt the Jehovah's Witnesses have a higher percentage of pedophiles than any other religion, at least to begin with, but they sure do make it easy for them to say and prey on children. Being a cult they probably have a higher number of people that are more naive and trusting than average. They also like to pretend the congregations are a "spiritual paradise", free from the problems of the world, so that tends to make their followers more trusting of others.
Instead of one pastor or minister in a congregation, someone who has been trained in dealing with issues like this, they have several elders who attend a few weeks of bible training, little of it dealing with pedophilia and child abuse. These are difficult issues to deal with, no doubt there is a tendency to ignore red flags when it comes to this kind of thing, especially when elders are also under the delusion that such things rarely happen in "Jehovah's organization" With numerous elders and ministerial servants, it also makes it more likely the pedophile will be in a position of authority. It's a strict hierarchy, where elders have a great deal of authority and women and children are taught to obey.
Even when it is acknowledged that abuse has happened there is a tendency to blame the victim, to think they somehow encouraged the behavior, or even to consider them as guilty, as if they were equally responsible. It's not unheard of for a minor to be disfellowshipped for immorality for having been abused by an older man. Then you have the infamous "two witness" rule, something that virtually guarantees pedophiles will not suffer any consequences if they don't admit to the behavior, at least the first time they are accused. Sex abuse is treated the same as any other sexual immorality, with no consideration given to the known statistics on sex abuse, that there is a high likelihood that a pedophile will reoffend. There is a sort of hubris involved, as they believe they are being guided by God's holy spirit, so they deceive themselves into thinking they will know if a person is truthful and whether they are repentant or not.
There is also the headship principle, where women are expected to obey their husbands. Of course most women would not knowingly allow their children to be abused, but if a man is abusive to his wife and the elders have given her counsel many times to stay anyway, that obedience and victimization can become deeply ingrained, to the point that she either doesn't recognize the signs or even knowingly allows her children to be abused.
Even when pedophiles are caught or admit the abuse, there seems to be is a tendency to let the pedophile off easily. If the person appears to be repentant they can be privately reproved, so no one else knows that there is a pedophile in their congregation. Even if the person is disfellowshipped, they can usually easily get reinstated after six months to a year. At that point they are treated no differently than any one else who has been reinstated, they are considered a member in good standing. People in the congregation are never told why they have been disfellowshipped, so remain in the dark.
Despite their public assertions to the contrary, men can be and are appointed elders, even if it is known or suspected by the elder body that they have sexually abused children in the past. Many congregations have a hard time finding enough elders, so there is obviously a temptation to overlook or minimize past wrongdoing.
Finally you have the Watchtower itself, the most guilty party in this equation. They follow a pattern of sweeping such problems under the rug, and sticking with policies that enable pedophiles. They prefer to quietly pay off victims in exchange for non disclosure agreements and when that doesn't work they will lie, delay and otherwise hinder any lawsuits. They believe they are God's sole channel of communication with mankind, so they no doubt justify this behavior as needed in order to not "bring reproach" on Jehovah's name. At the same time they have criticized other religions, especially the Catholics, for their own child abuse issues, all while pretending it rarely, if ever, happens to them.
They were recently fined several million dollars for failing to provide discovery documentation and witnesses for a lawsuit, so it's obvious they have something to hide and are willing to pay to keep it hidden. This while telling their members they are financially challenged and asking for more donations. Most current Jehovah's Witnesses do not know they have a list of known or suspected pedophiles, rumored to be 56k in number, and they will do anything to keep the existence of that list unknown to the public and especially to their their members.
