Luzerne County, PA's 'Cash for Kids' Scandal OK with School Officials
November 14th, 2009 by Robert Franklin, Esq.Months ago, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, a scandal came to light. Prosecution is still underway, so we don't know the outcomes of any criminal trials. But the allegations are that two juvenile court judges, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, were taking kickbacks from operators of juvenile correctional facilities.
The scam has been called "cash for kids." Under the alleged scheme, any juvenile who came into one of those judges' courts was sentenced to detention regardless of how trivial the offense charged. Into the bargain, lawyers and parents were intimidated by judges and court personnel. Due process of law was all but nonexistent.
Now we have the first report to the panel investigating the cases. Read about it here (Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/10/09).
Judge Arthur E. Grim, who was appointed by Governor Rendell to investigate the scandal, called it "an almost routine disregard for the rights of juvenile offenders."
With the juvenile packed off to one of several privately-run, for-profit detention centers, the judge would receive a cut of the per capita payment received from the state by the facility. Estimates of the total payout over the six years of the alleged scam run to $2.6 million.
Grim referred to that as a system of "unfettered power, greed, opportunity and intimidation."
Now it turns out that school officials, if out of the kickback loop, heartily agreed with what the judges were doing. Just think, you're a harried school principal and you've got a troublemaker on your hands. In Luzerne County, you could just send the kid to old judge Ciavarella or Conahan and - poof! - your problem was solved. You wouldn't see that child again for months, if ever.
I've written before about some of the outrageous consequences of "zero tolerance" school policies. Well, this is another one. We've seen six-year-olds busted under zero tolerance policies for bringing a cub scout "spork" (a three-in-one knife, fork and spoon for camping) to school. In Luzerne County, "zero tolerance" meant school officials could call the cops on any misbehaving child, again regardless of the offense. From there the pipeline ran directly to Judge Ciavarella's or Conahan's court and then to a juvenile home, with money lubricating the whole mechanism.
Back when the scandal first broke, I contacted one of the writers for the Philadelphia Inquirer who was working on the story. I asked if he had a percentage breakdown of the sexes of the kids that went through those courts. He didn't, and didn't have any idea of how to find out.
So the best I can do on that subject is to cite the most recent nationwide statistical report on juvenile crime by the Department of Justice which is for 2007. It indicates that, 71% of all juveniles arrested for any crime in the country were boys. So my guess is that about the same weight of the Luzerne County juvenile court corruption fell on boys.
Thanks to Jerry for the heads-up.
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November 14th, 2009 at 10:27 am
"Cash for kids", is just another way to take children from the "matriarchal underclass", and put them into the "bureaucratic pork triangle"
Hey, it creates jobs for women!!
November 14th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Yeah, the next time the government wants to take control of some aspect of your life, starts funding some major police offensive "war on...X"; keep this in mind.
Also to keep in mind - if it were adult men, no one would care. Likely, there'd be groups clamoring for an expansion of the program. The only reason this was eventually stopped was because kids were involved.
The scandals involving the Texas Youth Commision are no less startling. Anytime you're taking that many kids away from their parents, locking them up, and removing any accountability and oversight, you're asking for corruption. Throw a little "profit motive" in the mix, and the normal sadism that's associated when one group has total control over another will explode.
google "stanford prison experiment" for a good example.
November 14th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Well at least the 71% ratio is more equitable. There are countries where the ratio is greater than 98%.
November 14th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
This is nothing new! Children's Aid Agencies do this EVERY DAY of EVERY YEAR as they round up children and entangle them in their web of deceit and destruction of families and children mostly for unwarranted reasons. CAS/CPS agencies do this to feed their need to draw out and tap into tax dollars! Take a look at these videos.
1. Archbishop Dorian A. Baxter - National Chairman of Canada Court Watch
http://www.vimeo.com/7595756
2. Randy Hillier - MPP Member of Provincial Parliament
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ6DrYO6c-8&feature=player_embedded#
3. Rev. Stephen Rudd
http://vimeo.com/6961550
And here is a case of abuse of children by CAS including robbing the public of MILLIONS of dollars to keep staff employed unjustly and for unwarranted reasons;
Breaking news - Teen claims he was subjected to years of abuse while a Crown Ward for the York Region Children's Aid Society!
(August 4, 2009) A teen who has been under the care and control of the York Region Children's Aid Society has written a scathing letter to the Executive Director of the society, Mr. Patrick Lake, in which he describes years of abuse by workers while he was a Crown Ward. The teen described how he and other children are being medicated by force without their consent, in spite of them being over the age of 14. The teen described an environment of assaults, threats and intimidation being used on a daily basis against children in the care of CAS. One of the facilities which the York Region CAS had this teen held captive was Youthdale Treatment Centre. In follow-up to this story, Court Watch has found a public blog where other former residents of Youthdale have reported similar stories of abuse as well, including forced medication by injections at the facility. Photo to the left is the actual bag containing the cocktail of powerful medication which the teen was forced to take against his wishes and without the prescribing doctor telling him what the medication was for what the side effects of the medication were. More information about this breaking story will be released as soon as it becomes available.
The CAS and it's ancillary veins are perhaps the biggest racket, under the guise of "child protection" since the days of the mob and gangsters that ruled many of our big cities!
Attila
November 14th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Just another example of the educated patriarchal segments of society feeding off and exploiting the "matriarchal underclass" who are not educated enough to protect themselves.
Creating and perpetuating a matriarchy is good for business, if you're business is feeding off state and federal "pork dollars"
November 14th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
A response to "Judge" Cleland
"We know the people in this community did not consciously choose to stand on the side of injustice at the expense of children. But what was it that made it so hard to do the right thing? Were people afraid? Were they intimidated? By whom? What protections would they have wanted? Where would they have wanted to take the information they had?"
Mr. Cleland,
Are you pretending to be naive? Surely a person with your years of life experience and that of handling power must know where the problem lies. These "judges" did what they could, because their actions were cloaked in the moralistic sanctions of "the community". If you really want to pretend as you care for the people, do answer this - YOUR "judges" assailed the lives of young children.. sure enough these children cannot be compensated justly for the crimes of your "judges". Would you declare them free from your system of jurisdiction, given that your jurisdiction has criminally aggressed against these individuals? For sure your systems behavior has left no doubt that it is unjust to children even. No further good can be expected from your system. So a just action to take would be to free these children to seek other avenues for refuge and to defend against your system.
Until you are prepared to do so AND DO SO.. quit crying crocodile tears!
November 14th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I grew up in Luzerne county. It's a mobster-union rust-belt region where kickbacks are the norm rather than the exception. Some of my friends stayed behind and made lives there but many more moved away. None of this surprised me one bit.
November 14th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
We now live in the country we all feared at one time, Communist America. America is now a police state and mark these words, other than the two judges and a few flunky's, nobody else will be held accountable.
The day will come as it did in 1776 when the only two choices will be to give in to slavery, or fight for freedom. We all have that choice, but most of the men in America have been castrated by there own mothers and may no longer have the courage of men.
November 14th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
6,500 reversals, can't imagine being the one in charge of typing those orders. lol. For this to go one, and no one says anything. You'd think they'd have enough guts to begin submitting anonymous complaints, at minimum.
If it were me, I'd be terminating those involved, or keeping quiet, from their positions. If I was one who they attempt to intimidate into keeping quiet. I would have quit, and found a job in a different county, then filed against them and would have claimed hostile work environment in a separate suite against the state.
Having the choice to do what's right or keep with what the judges were up, can't be dismissed as being anything other than a choice to take part. And if it's true the school officials were aware of these acts, the school board should be involved as well to weigh their level of involvement. Although the Judges were the main actors in this conspiracy, sanctions, terminations, revoked licenses to teach need be considered as well.
November 14th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Rev Richard,
Why no PRISON TIME for these judges? After all, they ordered illegitimate kidnapping and arrest of children - and in a round about way - its about extortion as well. What society does not punish kidnappers of children - needs to self-destruct - and seems like it is!
FYI, if you are a prison guard, a judge or a cop, you get all sorts of passes in sentencing, with the idea that you might suffer retribution from inmates there. For example, there is a particular example of a Florida prison guard who executed a human being (get victim on their knees and shot the head point-blank - SIX times) who is out free on probation, simply because SHE was a prison guard. Such is the "fairness" of your justice system!
November 14th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
oh! And HER MINOR son did a short time in prison for helping his gun-totting murdering mom dispose the body. Ironic?
November 14th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Who is paying for the bloated American pork-o-cracy, who is paying so the American bureaucrats can live fat and porky??
The costs just keep getting added to our national debt with china.
November 15th, 2009 at 12:09 am
Wait until we get free national health care. Better learn to produce otherwise your value will be as a taken care of inmate.
November 15th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Pankaj: I believe the ex judges should receive a prison sentence. All their assets should be seized, sold and be used as portion of a monetary settlement for the wronged families.
What I was saying is these employees, and others who kept this injustice quiet, need be held accountable as well. It was their choice to remain quiet, Whatever their reason, they had options, the options they chose, at least, no longer need to be representatives of schools, or courts.