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PA: Former Judge Is on Trial in ?Cash for Kids? Scheme

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

Former Judge Is on Trial in ?Cash for Kids? Scheme By JON HURDLE and SABRINA TAVERNISE NY Times: February 8, 2011 SCRANTON, Pa. ? A former Pennsylvania judge went on trial in federal court on Tuesday, charged with racketeering, bribery and extortion in what prosecutors say was a $2.8 million scheme to send juvenile delinquents to privately run prisons. The case against the judge, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., who presided in Luzerne County, drew national attention for what legal experts say is a dangerous gap in the juvenile justice systems of many states ? children appearing in court without lawyers. Mr. Ciavarella, now 60, sentenced thousands of young people, funneling them into two private detention centers prosecutors say were run by his friends who slipped him payments in a ?cash for kids? scheme...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on February 09, 2011 (boomark / email).