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.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 14th, 2009 at 10:06 am and is filed under Children's Rights, Crime/Criminal Justice System/Police. You can trackback from your own site.