As part of the efforts to right the wrongs of in the Luzerne County Juvenile Justice corruption scandal, the County announced on August 24 that they will fund a new juvenile unit within their Public Defender’s Office.  At a news conference, Chief Public Defender Al Flora announced the unit will have three full-time attorneys, and a caseworker.  The county scandal centered on judges taking money for placing children in a residential facility they had secret ties to. Most of the children should have received community treatment and this injustice occurred in large part because they did not have proper if any representation.  The new unit will serve all children brought before the juvenile court.

Highlights of the new unit include:

• Attorneys will receive extensive training on representing children.
• Parental income will not be considered.
• Children will have the same attorney for the duration of case.
• The unit will comply with nationally recognized standards of no more than 200 cases a year for each attorney.
• Attorneys will continue the new policy already in place that they meet with the child and family before the hearing, and have contact through all juvenile justice processes.  This is a change from the old practice that when a child did have representation, they often met with their attorney for the first time only minutes before the hearing.

Additionally, it was announced that the children will now have a separate waiting room at court.  Previously they shared the same room as all the adults coming in for court that day.

More Information:

• News Coverage of Press Conference
• Juvenile Defenders Association of Pennsylvania- Performance Guidelines for Quality and Effective Juvenile Delinquency Representation

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