In 2007, eyes around the nation turned to Luzerne Country, PA, when the Juvenile Law Center (JLC) began investigating reports from youth and their families of harsh –and illegal– treatment during the adjudication process.
In what has been widely acknowledged as the worst juvenile justice scandal in US history, JLC investigators uncovered wide-spread pervasive greed and corruption by dozens of county officials at the expense of vulnerable young people and their families. JLC’s attorneys sought intervention from the PA Supreme Court, which ultimately intervened on the youths’ behalf. Read More>
WILKES-BARRE – Six years ago, Hillary Transue waived her right to an attorney at a juvenile hearing before former Judge Mark Ciavarella, and she was incarcerated for a minor offense.
On Monday, Transue, now 20, said she and her peers should feel vindicated after Gov. Tom Corbett signed two pieces of legislation into law at the Luzerne County Courthouse.
Read full article here.
WILKES-BARRE – Gov. Tom Corbett signed two bills Monday bolstering the rights of juvenile court defendants at the Luzerne County Courthouse, where two judges collected millions for sending juveniles to for-profit detention centers in a “kids-for-cash” scheme.
Read the rest of this article here.
SCRANTON – For more than a decade, federal prosecutors say, Mark Ciavarella perpetrated a “profound evil” upon juveniles in Luzerne County, unjustly incarcerating them as part of a scheme to enrich himself.
On Thursday, the tables turned against the 61-year-old former judge as he found himself on the receiving end of a 28-year prison sentence that in all likelihood assures he will spend essentially the rest of his life in prison. He was also ordered to pay nearly $1.2 million in restitution. Continue reading…
MHAPA, along with 39 other local and national organizations and legal experts, has joined the Juvenile Law Center (JLC) in opposing the Proposed Rule 152 on waiver of counsel for juveniles. The Proposed Rule allows for juveniles to waive their right to counsel based on certain criteria. In a comment to the Proposed Rule 152, written by the JLC and signed by MHAPA and others, the JLC urges the PA Juvenile Court Procedural Rules Committee to instead propose, and the Supreme Court to adopt, a rule that simply and unequivocally prohibits waiver of counsel by juveniles in juvenile court (see page 14 of the Comment). Only by prohibiting waiver can Pennsylvania protect children’s rights to fair proceedings and guarantee that Pennsylvania ends justice by geography.
Click here to read the JLC’s full comment.
The Rules Committee meets in May and will then make a recommendation to the Supreme Court, which may adopt the rule within weeks or take more time before doing so.
Luzerne Judge Found Guilty – Will “Pay the Piper”
On Friday, February 18, a federal jury in Scranton convicted former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella of 12 counts, including racketeering and conspiracy, and acquitted him of 27 counts, including extortion. In a corruption case that garnered international attention, federal prosecutors accused Ciavarella of taking more than $2 million in bribes from the builder of the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care detention centers and extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Robert Schwartz, Executive Director of the Juvenile Law Center (JLC), which represented many of the victims in this corruption scandal, commented on the conviction, saying: “The children and families of Luzerne County have seen today that the rule of law matters, and that even a person who has worn a judge’s robe must pay the piper.”
It’s been more than three years since families contacted the JLC to complain about Luzerne County’s Juvenile Court process, where children were being sent away to juvenile justice facilities after a two-minute hearing for usually very minor violations. Two elected county judges were eventually prosecuted by the FBI, along with others, including the owners of a juvenile detention facility. The former judges Ciavarella and Michael Conahan initially accepted a plea bargain. Ciavarella backed out of the plea, opting instead for the trial.