Judges took kickbacks to send kids to jail

Post #304,032 by jay 2/12/09 8:55:36 AM Reply	Judges took kickbacks to send kids to jail http://www.npr.org/t...storyId=100587066 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 This is big. Hundreds, if not thousands, of cases will have to be reviewed, and many redone. It's very likely that a batch expunging of these records will be the solution. And the state is going to end up paying some big bucks to somebody over these cases. The evidence is strong enough that the company involved isn't even trying to deny it, they are trying to cast it as an extortion scheme by the judges instead. Jay
Post #304,041 by mhuber 2/12/09 11:16:09 AM Reply	Why is this shocking? For-profit detention means huge piles of cash laying on the table. Somebody's going to scoop up a handful or two now and then. Judges used to screw with people's lives for the judge's own benefit all the time. What kind of historical arrogance does it take to think modern judges are better than past judges? The same kind that decided the post-Depression financial regulations are no longer needed, that the Constitution is quaint. There is an idea that we are better than people "back then" (for varying values of "back than"). The idea stems from the improved rules under which we live, things like the abolition of slavery. Society is better. People are still people.
Post #304,050 by drook 2/12/09 3:14:42 PM Reply	That it was so blatant One of the judges involved got the private prisons the contract, then he shut down the county detention center. Wow. -- Drew
Post #304,054 by beepster 2/12/09 3:39:27 PM Reply	Welcome to Philly. Gotta pay to play. I will choose a path that's clear. I will choose freewill.
Post #304,060 by Ashton 2/12/09 5:40:12 PM Reply	What was that question, asked of a reporter? (in HK, IIRC) Just how corrupt Is America, anyway? But to me, what compounds any answer to that -- is our infinite capacity for sanctimony (combined with Denial.) All made possible / inevitable? via our Puritan roots. When you Just KNOW that $deity is On Your Side: how could there be any need for improvement? So lets 'conserve' it just the way it is, I say. (Popular slogan, that.) Can we start-over? Hmmm.. is there a choice. Now?

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