Constitutional Law

5,000 Juveniles Jailed by Corrupt Judges

Two Pennsylvania judges have pleaded guilty to taking bribes totaling $2.6 million from two privately run youth detention centers. Prosecutors identified Judge Michael T. Conahan as the intermediary between the two centers and Judge Mark A. Ciavarella, Jr. as the person distributing elongated sentences to youth offenders. Since the scheme began in 2003, Ciavarella has sentenced approximately 5,000 juveniles -- many of them first-time offenders. Some of them remain in detention.

The two judges set their plot in motion by closing the county-run juvenile detention center for being in poor condition, stated prosecutors. Since then, the New York Times reports that Ciavarella sent a full quarter of juvenile defendants to detention centers, compared to the statewide rate of one in ten. His routinely ignoring requests for leniency helped gain Ciavarella notoriety with local youth advocacy groups.

Of those Ciavarella sentenced, one received three months for being in the company of another minor caught shoplifting. Another was sentenced to three months for giving another boy a black eye, without having had any prior offenses. There is also the case of a stellar student who created a mock MySpace profile of her high school's assistant principal, including a statement at the bottom of the page that it was just a joke. She too received three months detention from Ciavarella.

"Your statement that I have disgraced my judgeship is true," Ciavarella wrote to the court. "My actions have destroyed everything I worked to accomplish and I have only myself to blame."

While charges have yet to be filed against individuals representing the private detention centers, prosecutors insist that the investigation is moving forward. Ciavarella and Conahan may be subject to a maximum seven years in prison. Some observers are calling for "a MUCH longer sentence." (Emphasis in original.)

Full post as published by ACS Blog on February 13, 2009 (boomark / email).