GUILTY PA - Judges Ciavarella & Conahan accused of jailing kids for cash, Wilkes-Barre, 2009

SuziQ

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This is horrible! IMO, these judges judges should receive more than 7 years for this. If they thought a 90 day sentence for a minor charge was appropriate, then I think a 20 plus year sentence is good enough for the judges.

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=157&sid=5568610

(snip)
For years, the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses.
The explanation, prosecutors say, was corruption on the bench.
In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers. (more at link)
 
I cannot even put into words the anger that I feel after reading this. Absolutely deplorable! :furious:
 
This scenario is right out of Stephen King and Peter Straub's book "The Talisman" . . . where Jack and Wolf are picked up for hitchhiking and sent to Sunlight Gardner's Christian Home for Wayward Boys.
 
If this has been going on in one city, it may be going on right now in other places. The judge should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail, then go to jail. The people who paid him off and ran the chidrens' prison should have the same thing happen to them.
 
If this has been going on in one city, it may be going on right now in other places. The judge should be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail, then go to jail. The people who paid him off and ran the chidrens' prison should have the same thing happen to them.

I can't state my reaction better than txvicki did. Can't believe PA allowed their juvenile justice system to operate like a corrupt third-world country's.
 
Federal prosecutors have ratcheted up their pursuit of two former Pennsylvania judges accused of taking $2.8 million in kickbacks to place youth offenders in private detention centers.
Former Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella Jr. and Michael Conahan were charged in a 48-count indictment Wednesday with racketeering, extortion, bribery, money laundering, fraud and other crimes. The indictment was made public Thursday.

More at link:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-09-10-14-05-42
 
Well, thank God this has been brought to light! Whatever punishment these 's get will certainly not be enough!

:furious:
 
This is as it should be, but now even serious offenders are free. These two judges are the worst. And they want immunity from civil suits? Right. I am amazed that this **** goes on in this day and age.
 
I am very curious about what the numbers would say about how many of those kids, incarcerated long term with other juveniles, some of whom presumably belonged there, learned from their jailmates.

In other words, how many kids, who shouldn't have been there to begin with, have learned the art of becoming the very crinimals they were portrayed as, right there in that facility? How many came out hardened with a newer, stronger, tougher "shell"? How many went on to live up to (or down to) what those judges labelled them as and stuck them in a facility with?

Shameful.
 
"On Monday, the disgraced former judge will stand trial in one of the biggest courtroom scandals in U.S. history — a $2.8 million bribery scheme known as 'kids for cash.'" http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=12852653

This is one of the worst things I've read in a long time--in large part because the legal system was torturing these children. Why on earth was it allowed to go on for so long?? Why weren't lawyers stepping up to fight these cases pro bono? The whole thing is so horrible. The judges are obviously at the most fault, but it seems like others should see severe penalties for this too. The legislature should be ashamed for letting this go on this long. All of those children should be receiving SERIOUS aid--financial, emotional, medical, etc.--and the people who allowed it to happen should be paying for it.
 
It is, indeed, a horrid blot on the history of child dependency. Shame, shame, shame. FWIW, each and every state that I know of has some skeletons in the closet as far as "back room deals" concerning the placement of challenging children into appropriate settings. Typically, the issue is whether the receiving home has a private agenda ie. religion. Here it looks to be all about the almighty dollar. The sad irony is that the frontline workers in these homes are often poorly educated/trained and paid minimum wage. We're just not putting our money where it can be best utilized, IMO.

Many people don't realize that the taxpayer's cost for every child in a treatment facility is anywhere between $50000-10,0000 month. There are very often far less restrictive and less costly placements which also benefit the child and keep him/her closer to his home base.
 
Oh my gosh!

They should get LWOP. They had a lot of power and they used it to ruin lives, so they could line their pockets. The ultimate greed! Yuck!

Salem
 
Ahhh, was finally able to look at this thread this evening... I was banned from exposure... Jury selection took longer than anticipated today. I was dismissed at 3PM... Selection was anticipated to be over by lunch, which would've been nice so I could stay for opening arguments.

This is not going to be the popular opinion but I hope they are a fair jury and rule on the facts presented.
 

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