Mark Ciavarella Jr., Judge, Gets 28 Years In 'Kids For Cash' Case

Huffington Post

Seems rare these days when a person can say justice was served, I think justice was definitely served here. Consider this proof of why privatization can have horrific consequences.

SCRANTON, Pa. (Associated Press) — A longtime northeastern Pennsylvania judge has been ordered to spend nearly three decades in prison for his role in a massive juvenile justice bribery scandal that prompted the state's high court to toss thousands of convictions.

Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. was sentenced Thursday to 28 years in federal prison for taking $1 million in bribes from the builder of a pair of juvenile detention centers in a case that became known as "kids-for-cash."

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed about 4,000 convictions issued by Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008, saying he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles, including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea.

I hope he's assigned one of the jobs he was bribed into condemning some child into slavery for.

reply to post by Kali74


Just think.

All those children forever haunted by this mans actions.

All the victims.

Justice is bittersweet.


S&F

I think everyone involved in that crap should get the same sentence....cops....social workers, or whoever ......lock all of those rotten bastards up.

reply to post by Kali74


I don't think privatization is the problem, bribery was the problem, it's kind of not the same.

I don't know, maybe its just so much time on ATS.

This was blatantly Illegal, so what else have they done?

But things like this, if the Privatized prison industry is willing to bribe judges, what else are they willing to do in the name of profits.

I remember a conspiracy I read a while back where it discussed the privatized prisons getting involved with the music industry in the 90s to help spread "criminal" culture among minorities.

It argued that the rapid change to gangster rap, and the whole east/west coast thing was apart of that agenda.

So really what "legal" avenues have they pursued in growing the prison pop if they are also willing to do illegal things as well.

reply to post by Kali74


Justice served...we need more of this! Maybe those in power would think twice before engaging in such activity. There are too many times where people who have a status of power are given leniency, or justice looks the other way.

This reminds me of the Mayor that has been found groping female employees. If it was an employee doing that, they would have lost their job already. This mayor still holds his office after a handful of past female employees have already claimed they were sexually groped by him. They even went so far as to alter the situation for him, where he could keep his job, as long as there was another staff member present during private meetings with a women.

This guy should have been fired on the spot and put on trial for sexual harassment. End of story.

reply to post by Mr Headshot


It is kind of the same when prick CEO's are willing to bribe officials in order to increase profits, don't you think?

Karma sure hit's some people hard.

28 years well deserved.

You ever wonder how people would act if they didn't have to worry about having enough money, if whatever they did they always would make enough to live a life without debt worries.

Imagine how many jobs would " function " and how many " ideas " would of worked...

That truly makes me Hate and pray before I goto bed every night that those who have no morals meet a worse fate.
I'm not even religious, but I pray to something everynight hopefully eats them or some equally unpleasant fate. Can get creative about it a group of nanobots striping their flesh. I'd hate to be a douche or bully in the future, nano-anti bullies attack = true.

You really are the sum of your own actions, so own up to it.

reply to post by benrl


I think there is probably no shortage of dirty judges or officials of any capacity, sadly.

reply to post by Tranceopticalinclined

You ever wonder how people would act if they didn't have to worry about having enough money, if whatever they did they always would make enough to live a life without debt worries.

I do wonder a lot, I just don't know if we'll ever make that paradigm shift or let go of those animal instincts that drive greed.

Originally posted by Kali74
reply to post by benrl

 

I think there is probably no shortage of dirty judges or officials of any capacity, sadly.

So imagine what legal avenues they have pursued as well.

The bribing the judge is an end game move in an overall strategy, broaching illegal activity is a high risk vs reward for a business to undertake.

That means they would of taken every Legal avenue before getting to that point, which is damn scary.

Lobbying mandatory minimums perhaps? Three Strike laws? etc.

I am sure if we looked at the books they would be SUPER supportive of victims rights groups that are gun-ho for harshest sentences.

Id start looking into the finances and history of public defenders in areas where these prisons operated.

reply to post by benrl


Capacity quota's are something that generally goes hand in hand with private prisons and that's on the legal side...

I can see his old courthouse from out my window. What a shame. This county is a mess. Liars lying lies.

The topic of juvenile detention centers will be discussed on an upcoming episode of Out of the Box, airing Monday, February 17th, at 10 pm EST. This thread ties in with the topic.



While not directly related to this individual case, we are exposing the fact that juvenile detention centers are an easy way for parents to dump off their "unruly" children, and our guest offers possible alternative solutions. The topic itself is far reaching, and we'd like to bump your thread to help heighten the awareness that corruption is involved with the profitability of such detention centers.

You can visit the ATS Live Forum on the above date to find Season 2 Episode 6 of Out of the Box, and listen in to a discussion that covers nearly an hour of this topic, from a screenwriter of "Coldwater", airing in theaters worldwide this year.

Trailer:

There is something whacky going in PA with kids - can't put my finger on it but Penn State is 75 miles down the road from this judge. With Sandusky molesting kids at PSU, the disappearance of Prosecutor Ray Gricar who looked into the Sandusky case, Uncle Eddy Savitz convicted child molester out of Philadelphia who Sandusky was involved with and now this story...

Something is bubbling under the surface there in Pennsyltucky - thats what we call it here in Jersey.
lol

I can confirm a general respect for The Law within Luzerne County. The local newspaper is the Times Leader, plenty of material there to digest.

Here's a sample, old Senator Musto is mixed-up with the developer of the kid's prison, Mericle, who has his hands in lots of pockets. The article does a good job of examining the consequences for the various defendants if, one or the other clams up. The Feds hauled off 83 year-old Musto to prison hospital last week. What bothers me is these guy's heirs and benefactors are all fat and sweet with money made off the public trust. iirc, Musto arranged the sale of a unused public building to his son, only after it was renovated by this builder-developer guy, either a kick-back or a grant miss-appropriation.

Today's blurb....
U.S. attorney: ‘Resolution’ to end Mericle litigation
Deal delays release of information

timesleader.com...:-Resolution-to-end-Mericle-litigation

In fact, the FBI raided my local zoning office today. A nice lil town that has nothing better to do than use the govt resources to carry on personal agendas. Our mayor is also a defense lawyer, what a scumbag. I routinely put my foot up his fat ass, expecting a cheezeburger to pop out of his mouth.

....and there's now a documentary film about it, I kid you not. (pun intended)

www.timesleader.com...

kidsforcashthemovie.com...