Judge Convicted in Pennsylvania Kids-for-Cash Scheme, Faces Long Prison Term and Class-Action Lawsuit

The last big privatization of human misery was slavery, and it was so profitable it took a war to end it. The United States is walking down a perilous path on this.

Finally. Some reform.

This case pretty much sums up our system, that its not only is it possible to make money on the suffering of other human beings its incredibly profitable.

I'm not keen on any type of revenge but since its young children I wouldn't mind the eye for an eye policy just once. Maybe we put the judge through the kangaroo jail system he created just get him to feel the pain a group of people will have for their entire lives. He would never know when his sentenced starts or ends creating a horrible psychosis...

I hope he doesn't get sentenced to club fed.

When will those he sentenced be released?

Good. Fuck this guy and the private prison system.

I live in this neck of the country and ever since this scheme was discovered it has been big news. The local PBS station even had a special town hall type meeting where everyone voiced their opinion. In my opinion and a majority of the citizens around here, only a handful of the kids deserved their punnishments. The rest was uncalled for. One story was of a teenager girl that recieved nine months for having a pack of Zig-Zag rolling papers. It was also her first offence. Ciavarella and Conahan will hang.

The first RULE of Fightclub, is we don't talk about Fightclub!

Judge don't drop the soap.

Prison for profit is a thriving business in America..American Justice System is as corrupt as some of the pepople that they incarcerate...

This, my friends, is merely the tip of the iceberg! This is symptomatic of the same scam that is going on all around this country. It is a micro industry that supports the entire law enforcement/judicial/legal industrial complex. This complex not only conspires to needlessly throw various segments of society into jail, but further conspire to keep them there indefinitely. The rights to speedy trials are being waived by court appointed attorneys, for those without their own attorneys, without the consent of the accused, and justified by laws that say the attorney must act in the best interest of their client, with or without their client's approval. Bail is habitually denied for the flimsiest of reasons. For those intending to post bail, the jail will frequently alter their records of court determined stipulations, so that when bondsmen attempt to post bail for an accused, the records are in conflict which prevent the bail from occurring and requires weeks of effort to remedy it.

Why does this habitually occur? Most Sheriff offices or Department of Corrections, receive daily stipends from their states for each day an accused is in custody. Sheriffs are elected based upon past performance, often assessed by their number of arrests. Judges are only needed if there are those to judge, and since the law requires regular "status check" and other non trial court appearances, a long deferred case keeps everyone working. Public defenders intentionally mishandle their cases, so that the confined discharge them as they get passed from one ineffective attorney to another, each one getting paid irrespective of whether they help the accused or not. The bottom line, they all make money only if people are arrested and sent to jail. Teens can sit in jail for years before ever going to trial. Typically, and at the last minute, they will attempt to avoid a time consuming trial, by coercing the accused to accept a plea deal which usually requires a serving of time. But often, charges will ultimately be dropped because they never had sufficient cause to convict one of an accused crime. But, in the meantime, the accused has been sitting in jail sometimes for years, while everyone around him has been making money off of him. ( Hers too, by the way. )

What a scumbag, he ruined the lives of societies most vulnerable.

I take that back on justice served, by reading the whole article seems he is out on appeal.

Sometimes there is Justice, now if our Attorney General would go after Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield, Karl Rove alias Bushes brain. For war crimes.

this just show you how corrupt our justice system is

How many kid's lives has been destroyed and committed suicide and how many corrupt judges and prosecutors are out there still taking bribes? So few judges are brought to justice because it is not as easy as to send a kid to for profit prisons.

Good for him... I hope he gets one year in prison for every year he gave and looses every penny he ever made on top of that.

Make sure he gives all the names out. This was a conspiracy among many people.

I think one of the more serious aspects of this story is the honestly guilty children he sent there. Since this fucker didn't bother seperating the guilty from the innnocent there is no way to find out who deserves to be in jail and who doesn't without retrials. He should not only serve time for the poor souls he screwed over for a little extra cash but for the amount of criminals he just gave a get out of jail free card to.

Good.

Reminds be of the character, "Stromboli" in Disney's "Pinocchio:" A totally reprehensible bastard.