Judges Jailed for 7 Years in Child Cash Scam
Judges jailed for 7 years in kids for cash scam!
(Jan 28, 2009) Judges are supposed to be highly respected for doing what is right for society. This article shows that all is not well with the judiciary. Two judges from the US got caught taking kickbacks for putting kids into treatment centers. One thing good about the US is that they they are not afraid to do something about their judges who get caught. Up here in Canada, judges who threaten citizens and violate the rights of citizens under the law are allowed to continue on with their dirty business as usual. Let's not forget about Madame Justice Lydia Olah from the Barrie, Ontario Court who had Ontario Provincial Police lock the courtroom doors in Collingwood, Ontario in violation of the law. Let's also not forget Justice Marvin Zuker, who got caught altering transcripts in the Toronto, Ontario court. Let's not forget those judges who have threatened and intimidate those who have attempted to exercise their lawful right to record their court hearings in Ontario. At least in the US, authorities do something to protect the administration of justice and lock up judges who break the law. Maybe it's about time for the election of judges in Canada.
Judges Sentenced
Kids for Cash
Editorial - January 28, 2009
The judges, Luzerne County President Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., 58, and his predecessor, Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan, 56, will serve seven years in jail under a plea agreement. The setting is Pennsylvania coal country, but it's a story right out of Dickens' grim 19thcentury landscape: Two of Luzerne County's most senior judges on Monday were accused of sending children to jail in return for kickbacks. They're alleged to have pocketed $2.6 million in payments from juvenile detention center operators. When a federal judge reviews their plea though, the question ought to be whether the punishment is adequate -- along with the judges being bounced from the bench, disbarred, andlosing their pensions.
If the allegations are true, Ciavarella and Conahan were involved in a disgraceful cabal far worse than one that merely lined their pockets.
First, the judges helped the detention centers land a county contract worth $58 million. Then their alleged scheme was to guarantee the operators a steady income by detaining juveniles, often on petty stuff. Many of the kids were railroaded, according to allegations lodged with the state
Supreme Court last year by the Philadelphiabased Juvenile Law Center, an advocacy group. In asking the court to intervene in April, the law center cited hundreds of examples where teens accused of minor mischief were pressured to waive their right to lawyers, and then shipped to a detention center.
One teen was given a 90-day sentence for having parodied a school administrator online. Such unwarranted detentions left "both children and parents feeling bewildered, violated, and traumatized," center lawyers said. "Very few people would stand up" to the Luzerne judges, according to the law center's executive director, Robert G. Schwartz.
Fortunately, Juvenile Law Center was willing to do so, along with backing from state Attorney General Tom Corbett's office and the state Department of Public Welfare. The blind justices on the state's high court, though, took a pass. Only last month, they offered no explanation in declining to take upthe law center's request that the court step up. Now, the state Supreme Court should revisit the issue, since the scope of corruption alleged at the Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre could further undermineconfidence in the courts statewide.
Authorities need to redress running roughshod over juveniles' rights -- a process also likely to bring damage suits. While the local district attorney pledges to "do our best to right the situation," this calls for an independent, outside review.
The two judges' downfall may have rooted out the worst perpetrators of this evil scheme, but the abuse of power alleged in Luzerne County is so startling that it should send shock waves for reform around the state court system