Kids for cash scandal
The " Kids for cash" scandal was a case of corruption in the U.S., which was uncovered in 2008. Members of the Court of Luzerne County in Wilkes -Barre, Pennsylvania U.S. government had accepted cash payments from operators of private prisons and assigned to them in return as many juvenile offenders as prisoners.
Were accused of presiding judge Mark Ciavarella and Judge Michael Conahan to have been received from a private operator of a prison payments. In return, the judges had frequently imposed prison sentences on juvenile offenders, which then had to be served in the private prisons. Ciavarella and Conahan pleaded guilty on February 13, 2009, to have received 2.6 million dollars from the managers of the Pennsylvania Child Care in Pittston Township and the Western Pennsylvania Child Care subsidiary in Butler County. This admission was made as part of a plea agreement, to achieve a reduced sentence. The verdict on the consensual confession ( plea agreement ) was abolished by a federal court again, because it could have adverse consequences for the convicted young people. Furthermore, the judges were condemned to the rules on the consensual confession withdraw, so that an investigation of the case could be made possible.
On 9 September 2008 a top federal court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania brought an indictment in 48 points against Ciavarella and Conahan, including the allegations of organized crime, fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery and violations of the payment of federal taxes. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ordered to continue a study of the judgments of the two judges and as a result several hundred guilt explanations of young people from the Luzerne County were discarded. The competent State authority of Pennsylvania established a Commission of Inquiry into the far-reaching problems of the youth court system in the County. The Juvenile Law Center put on a class action for a lawsuit against the judges and numerous other litigants, and the parliamentary representation of Pennsylvania appointed a commission to investigate the far-reaching problems of the youth court system in the County.
Initial studies
First investigations about wrongful convictions in Luzerne County, began in 2007, when the Philadelphia-based " Juvenile Law Center " was asked by young people for help. Lawyers for the Center found that processes were negotiated without an appropriate defense in several hundred cases. In April 2008, the Juvenile Law Center filed an application to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, as the civil rights of the young people involved were injured in these processes. This application was first rejected. But when the allegations of corruption against the judges came up again in January 2009, the implementation of the petition was again considered.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI ) and the Internal Revenue Service issued within the framework of investigations in Luzerne County also studies on the two judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan. The exact timing and the scope of the analyzes of these two federal agencies were not disclosed. Later it became known that some of the studies in disciplinary hearings on the conduct of a former Judge, Anne H. Lokuta took place. In November 2006 Lokuta was loaded before the Judicial Conduct Board of Pennsylvania; she was accused of having exploited court clerks for official matters not to openly show bias against some lawyers, and to have inflicted by public servants abusing mental suffering. The panel ruled in November 2009 against Lokuta and she was discharged. During the hearings Lokuta accused Judge Michael Conahan to have harassed her and accused him of being involved in a conspiracy to their release. Lokuta assisted the FBI in the investigation regarding the "kids for cash" machinations against the decision of the Disciplinary Committee. In March 2009, the Supreme Court issued in the ongoing corruption investigations, the arrangement to postpone Lokutas dismissal and the planned for May 2009 election of her successor.
Accusations and confessions
In 2002, the U.S. attorney complained to the then presiding judge Conahan to have exploited his authority to allow private prisons in the County money transfers. The judges were suspected to have received as consideration for an agreement between the court and the private organizations millions of dollars. Therefore, they were alleged to have used her official position to have so subsequently causes the closure of the prison facilities of the County.
Notice of the actions in the main proceedings
A notice dated 26 January 2009 the Office of the U.S. States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania showed the extent of the charges against the two judges. The accusations led the investigation results to about the actions of both judge between the years 2000 to 2007 as it supported the construction and occupancy of private facilities for young people who were entertained by the two Pennsylvania Child Care ' societies to one as the official institutions to serve private prison, the judge preferred this over the facilities of the Luzerne County. The measures that use the two judges in order to disguise the money income, ran over several people and transactions that should apparently be used to avoid tax payments. Ciavarella and Conahan were also accused of having trained young people in the private institutions, even if the officer did not recommend detention for youth probation.
Agreement on confessions
The agreement of the confession provided that both judges were punished to seven years imprisonment to a fine for restitution and to assume the responsibility for the crimes. However, the Judge Edwin M. Kosik on the U.S. Court of the middle district of Pennsylvania in Scranton disagreed on 30 July 2009 the consensual confession because it did not meet the conditions, which provided for such a scheme. The lawyers for the two judges brought before a petition again to make a review of the protest against the consensual confession.
Criminal proceedings before the big court in Harrisburg
The request was rejected on 24 August 2009, after Ciavarella and Conahan recanted her admission of guilt, which could lead to a criminal court proceedings and other charges.
On 9 September 2009 the great Court raised in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, again in an indictment against Ciavarella and Conahan 48 points among other things because organized crime, fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery and violations of the tax laws of the State. For both judge September 15, 2009 was fixed as the date for the arraignment in court. Ciavarella and Conahan pleaded "not guilty " regarding the 48 charges. Since they paid a deposit of one million dollars, they have not been taken into custody.
On 18 February 2011, told a jury Mark Ciavarella in 12 of the 39 counts of guilty. He was then sentenced on 11 August 2011 to 28 years in a federal prison. He is currently serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Pekin, a federal prison with medium security standards, he may be dismissed at the earliest after 24 years in 2035. He would then be 85 years of age
On 23 October 2011, Conahan was convicted of guilty plea to 17 1/2 years in a federal prison. He sits in the Federal Correctional Complex, Coleman in Florida in 2026 and can expect his release.
Proceedings against the other party to
The attorney Robert Powell, who was co-owner of two private art institutions, pleaded on July 1, 2009 to guilty to the point of failure to display a capital crime ( misprision of felony ) and the facilitation of tax evasion in connection with a payment of 770,000 U.S. dollars to Ciavarella and Conahan in return for the admission of convicted offenders in his private institutions. On 1 September 2009, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania raised the bar admission of Powell because of his guilt confession on a temporary basis.
The well-known real estate developer Robert Mericle, who built the two private juvenile detention centers, pleaded guilty September 3, 2009, to have committed an omission of an indication of a crime to the Court, since he had paid 2.1 million dollars to Ciavarella and Conahan. As part of his confession, he agreed to pay 2.15 million dollars for the local health and welfare program for children. Mericle could be sentenced up to three years in prison and receive a maximum fine of $ 250,000. However, there is also the possibility of one year's imprisonment on probation for his consensual confession.
Sandra Brulo, the former deputy director of forensic services in Luzerne County the Office for probation youth agreed in March 2009 guilty for obstructing justice. When she realized that she was involved in a civil lawsuit of the covenant, they constructed a recommendation for a youth who appeared before the juvenile court of Luzerne County in September 2007. They dated back the constructed recommendation and changed the official recommendation on detention enforcement in a suspended sentence.
Processes of scandal victims
Based on the derived from the 1722 law regulating King 's Bench jurisdiction provided for only in exceptional cases, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania appointed on 11 February 2009 a special commissioner (special master) to check all judgments of Ciavarella, the young persons. The Judge Arthur Grim of Berks County Court of negotiations for ordinary (common pleas ) was appointed as Special Representative, who presented his research in a preliminary report of 11 March 2009.
On 26 March 2009, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recognized the recommendations of Arthur Grim and ruled that Ciavarella had violated the constitutional rights of thousands of young people. Furthermore, the Court overturned hundreds of debt confessions of young people.
A process for a class action ( class action ) was prepared by the Juvenile Law Center on behalf of the young people who have been sentenced by Ciavarella and were not represented by a lawyer or advice in their rights. Regarding Ciavarella and Conahan was examined in the process, templates which violations of the civil rights portions of the anti-mafia law RICO ( Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ) with the wives of judges and business partners, the shell companies, the prison guards and the Luzerne County. Three other processes on behalf of the victims were in a class action by the Juvenile Law Center to a process zusammengelegt.Eine supplementary chief complaint was placed on August 29, 2009.
Commission on the Youth Justice
In the aftermath of the accusations and the defenses put forward by the defendant, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania decided (Pennsylvania General Assembly), set up a commission which concerned the circumstances of the case law in Luzerne County. Through House Bill 1648 was set up in July 2008 equipped with a means of Subpoena Commission on Juvenile Justice. The Commission was composed of eleven members, who came from every region of the state organs Pennsylvania: four members came from the case, four out of parliament and three were determined by the Governor. The plan for the Commission saw at least before a meeting of the month. The acts and violations of the two judges should be examined and an overview of the situation of the courts of Luzerne County are given in the course of their tenure. She was asked who studies the recommendations and the results passed to the three branches of government 31 May 2010. At the signing of legislation on August 7, 2009 Governor Ed Rendell expressed harsh criticism of Ciavarella and Conahan, who had violated the rights of more than 6000 young people being denied them the basic rights to counsel and overly excessive sentences were pronounced. The lives of these young people and their families was thus drawn forever.
Annulment of the judgments from the years 2003 to 2008
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overturned the rulings of Judge Ciavarella on young people from the years 2003 to 2008 the end of October 2009. Overall, the Court conceded 6500 judgments. Approximately 100 cases have been renegotiated.