The Associated Press updated 6:56 p.m. MT, Wed., Feb. 11, 2009 WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - 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. “I’ve never encountered, and I don’t think that we will in our lifetimes, a case where literally thousands of kids’ lives were just tossed aside in order for a couple of judges to make some money,” said Marsha Levick, an attorney with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, which is representing hundreds of youths sentenced in Wilkes-Barre.
Prosecutors say Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, Western PA Child Care LLC. The judges were charged on Jan. 26 and removed from the bench by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court shortly afterward. No company officials have been charged, but the investigation is still going on.
The high court, meanwhile, is looking into whether hundreds or even thousands of sentences should be overturned and the juveniles’ records expunged. Among the offenders were teenagers who were locked up for months for stealing loose change from cars, writing a prank note and possessing drug paraphernalia. Many had never been in trouble before. Some were imprisoned even after probation officers recommended against it. Many appeared without lawyers, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1967 ruling that children have a constitutional right to counsel.
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SENDING JUVENILES TO JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER(JUVY)(<-SHORT FOR JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER) OR JUVEINILE PRISON(JP)(<-SHORT FOR JUVEINILE PRISON) IS A STUPID WAY TO TEACH THEM A LESSON MOST JUVENILES GO INTO JUVY OR JP FOR MINOR REASONS THAT A CLASS/OR COUNSLER/OR HOUSE ARREST/OR PROBATION/OR{JIPS}<- SHORT FOR JUVENILE INTENSIVE PROBATION SERVICES/OR THE DIVERSION PROGRAM/OR EVEN COMMUNITY SERVICE COULD OF TAKEN CARE OF IT IS RIDICULOUS HOW MANY JUVENILES GO TO JUVY OR JP FOR MINOR REASONS...UGGHHH.. IT DISGUSTS ME =] SO ALL THESE JUVENILES GET PUT IN THERE OK... BUT THEN THEY COME OUT WORSE:SUCH AS THEY MIGHT GO IN THERE NOT A GANG MEMBER BUT 99.9% ARE GARRANTEED TO COME OUT A GANG MEMBER SOME MIGHT GO IN A GANG MEMBER BUT 99.9% ARE GARRANTEED TO COME OUT BIGGER AND HAVE NO MERCY AND DONT CARE WHO OR WHAT YOU ARE AND MORE DANGEROUS TO THE COMMUNITY THAT THE POLICE AND JUDGES AND PROSICUTERS AND ECT. SAY THAT THEY PUT THEM IN THERE TO HELP SAFETEN THE COMMUNITY WHEN THERE ONLY LOGICALLY MAKEING IT WORSE (AND THIS IS ONLY 1 OF THE REASONS WHY JUVENILES SHOULDNT BE SENT IN FOR MINOR THINGS:BACC TO THE TOPIC THEY GO IN OK.. THEN COME OUT WORSE WHEN SIMPLE THINGS THIS STATE/OR THE WHOLE UNITED STATES COULD OF DONE TO FIX THE PROBLEM... AS I KNOW AS I AM A JUVENILE MYSELF WHO HAS BEEN IN AND OUT OF JUVY AND JP 7 TIMES ({{-HAHA I USED TO BE PROUD OF THIS NOW I AM ASHAMED THIS WAS NOTHING TO BE PROUD OF I ENDED UP DIGGING MYSELF A BIGGER HOLE NOW WHEN STUFF HAPPENS AND I GET ASKED QUESTIONS AND WHEN I ANSWER THEM I AM HARDLY BELIVED AND MANY TIMES WHEN I GET STOPPED ON THE STREET OR PULLED OVER OR WHEN AT A SCENE WHEN SOMETHING HAPPENED AFTER I GET MY NAME RAN 95% OF THE TIME I WILL BE DETAINED IF NOT DETAINED I ~WILL~ BE SEARCHED AND ETHIRE WAY I PRETTY MUCH GET DETAINED BECAUSE THEY WILL MAKE ME SIT DOWN AND HAVE ANOTHER OFFICER STAND BY AND WATCH ME BECAUSE OF MY NAME I AM NOT TRUSTED BY ~NO~ OFFICAL AND IT SUCCS BIG TIME CUZ I COULD BE TELLING THE STRAIGHT FACED TRUTH AND THEYLL THINK IM LIEING-}})ALSO FAMILY MEMBERS CAN GIVE JUVEINILES BAD NAMES WHEN THEY GET IN TROUBLE BECAUSE THEY FIGURE IF THE ADULT OR BROTHER/SISTER OR WHATEVER FAMILY MEMBER HAD A PAST HISTORY THEY'LL THINK WELL WOW... THIS JUVENILE IS GUNNA GO DOWN THE SAME PATH AS THEIR FAMILY MEMBER...ALSO FRIENDS WHO HAVE OR YOUST TO HAVE A BAD PAST WITH AUTHORITY FIGURES SUCH AS BEING IN JUVY OR JP CAN GIVE A JUVENILE A BAD NAME JUST KNOWING OR HANGING AROUND THEM CAN MAKE A COP WATCH YOU ALL BECAUSE 50% OF JUVENILES WILL COPY CAT THEIR FRIENDS BUT THE OTHER 50% DONT AND THAT OTHER 50% GET SHIT ABOUT IT WHEN THERE THE ONES WHO DONT COPY CAT THEIR FRIENDS...I DONT THINK THAT JUDGES/POLICE/SHERIFFS/PROSICUTERS/OR ANY KIND OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY FIGURES SHOULD JUDGE A JUVENILE JUST BECAUSE A FRIEND...MORE CONTINUED LATER.
ReplyDeletePUTTING JUVENILES IN JUVENILE DETENTION CENTER(JUVY) OR JUVENILE PRISON(JP) IS A BAD IDEA IT ONLY MAKES THE JUVENILE WORSE WHEN THEY GET OUT BECAUSE THEY LEARN ALOTTA SHIT SUCH AS HOW TO DO "STUFF" AND GET AWAY WITH IT FROM OTHER INMATES WHO HAVE DONE IT B4 IF THE JUVENILE GOES IN JUVY OR JP THERE 99.9% CHANCE THAT THERE GUNNA BE A GANG MEMBER IF NOT ALREADY ONE AND 99.9% OF JUVENILES THAT GO TO JUVY OR JP ARE LIKELY TO GO BACC IN BECAUSE THEY DONT CARE AND I KNOW BECAUSE I AM A JUVENILE MYSELF WHO HAS BEEN IN BOTH JUVY AND JP IVE BEEN IN AND OUT OF BOTH A TOTAL OF 7 TIMES AND AFTER THE FIRST TIME IN I DIDNT CARE IF I WENT BACC BECAUSE I MADE CLOSE HOMIES THAT I CONSIDER FAMILY "A SISTER/BROTHER MAY NOT ALWAYS BE A HOMIE BUT A HOMIE WILL ALWAYS BE A SISTER/BROTHER" AND WHEN U GO BACC EVERYONE KNOWS YOU AND YOUR JUST CHILL IN THERE
ReplyDeleteFOR THE FIRST TIMERS ALL THEY DO IS WALK ON YARD AND GO CLIQ UP AND THATS THEIR FAMILY WHILE THERE IN THERE AND WHEN THEY GET OUT(*MY FIRST TIME I WENT IN I WAS ALREADY A GANG BANGER SO WHEN I HIT YARD I WENT STRAIGHT TO MY CLIQ AND CLIQUED UP AND WAS ASSIGNED "TORPEDO"(*TORPEDO-- IS SOME ONE WHO WHEN IS TOLD RUNS UP ON SOMEBODY WHITH NO MERCY AND NO SECOND THOUGHTS THE PERSON WHO GETS RAN UP ON MAY BE INNOCENT OR YOUR BEST FRIEND BUT YOU DONT ASK QUESTIONS OR HAVE 2ND THOUGHT YOU JUST HAVE TO DO IT*) IF YOU DONT DO THE DEMANDS OF BEING A TORPEDO YOU GET CALLED A PUNK OR BITCH EVERY DAY AND IN JUVY WHEN CALLED A PUNK OR BITCH OR BOTH YOU MUST FIGHT IF YOU DONT YOU WILL BE RAN UP ON AND WILL BE MADE BITCH IF NO ONE CALLS YOU A PUNK OR BITCH OR BOTH YOU ARE ALMOST 99.9% GARRANTEED TO BE RAN UP ON DAILY UNTIL U GO INTO PROTECTIVE CUSTODY (PC) ALSO KNOWN AS PUNK CITY SO MOST PEOPLE REFUSE TO GO TO PUNK CITY (PC) BECAUSE ONCE YOU GO IN PC YOU WILL ALWAYS GO BACC IN PC EVERY TIME YOU GO IN