Kids for Cash: Two Judges, Thousands of Children, and a $2.8 Million Kickback Scheme

This should not have happened, at anytime, anywhere, with our adolescent youth, in America, in the 21st Century. This reads like a story from the early 1860s, but it happened recently. To those involved, not just the judges, but everyone associated with this justice system in the Luzerne County Courthouse, did not seek what was best for the youth of the county, but what was best to line their own pockets, or just looked away, and did nothing, because that was the way it was. Even the police were non-exempt from strong-armed incidents with youth, as noted on the first page of the text. The greed of two judges is a black mark on the juvenile justice system that must be corrected, with knowledgeable and caring judges, attorneys, Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), and other stakeholders to ensure that our youth who enter the juvenile system (and its courts), receive due process, and are allowed to engage with the courts in an evidence-based program to help families receive treatment and counseling for their wayward youth. There are, from my experience, many caring and responsible judges who work with juveniles every day. The story of these two judges should not tarnish those individual men and women who do their job well and many times without due recognition of their tireless sacrifices and effort to serve the best interests of these troubled youth.Kudos to the Juvenile Law Center, and for William Ecenbarger for a well-written text that brought to light the complete story of two corrupt judges who took advantage of a system, and changed the lives of thousands of innocent youth, who should have been helped with counseling, instead of being sent to a child care facility, for profit.A must read for anyone who deals with juveniles in the justice system, or with children and families within the Child Protection System.

Reading this book was a real eye opener. The greed and evil that took place in this story is unbelievable in this day and age. In my opinion the penalties paid by the court officials involved were much too light and other court personnel should have at least lost their jobs for not reporting the abuse of the system and the children who suffered at the hands of these judges.

Outstanding and eye-opening! I believe that this book should be read by every lawyer, forensic expert and government judicial worker in this country. The cunning, self-servicing, nepotistic and Machiavellian denominator to the crimes committed by these Judges is unbelievable. I must commend the work of Judge John Cleland and his committee for its study of and recommendations for dealing with this problem in Luzerne County and the Commonwealth in general. It is a shame that some of the committee’s proposals were not heeded by the State Supreme Court. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is in some ways responsible for these Judge’s transgressions. It has allowed illicit behavior among its politicians and government workers to breed. I can only hope that Pennsylvania’s Attorney General (Kathleen Kane who sincerely seems to be trying) and the Judicial Ethics Board will start getting its principles and citizen commitment foundation in order. Over the years, I have referred questionable behavior to Commonwealth officials involving lawyer misconduct, bank president credentialing distortions (CPAs that are not CPAs), school superintendents protecting pedophile friends and subordinates, cocaine rings fed by lawyers and other professionals, school principals lying about children moved into foster care from foreign countries for sexual perpetration, massive drug movements by reputable people into and through Erie PA (authorities were given names, license plate numbers, times, color and year of the vehicle) as well as other dubious acts, but nothing has ever been done. Recently I learned that a Supreme Court Justice in Pittsburgh helped herself and her family to public monies and that members of the Attorney General’s staff and two Supreme Court justices received and distributed not one, but 234 pornographic emails, evidently some on court computers. A final note: Was it not Churchill who said, “When the situation was manageable it was neglected, and now that it is thoroughly out of hand we apply too late the remedies which then might have effected a cure. There is nothing new in the story. It is as old as the sibylline books. It falls into that long, dismal catalogue of the fruitlessness of experience and the confirmed unteachability of mankind. Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong–these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history.” I refer the reader to “On the Front Lines of Pennsylvania Politics: 25 years of Keystone Reporting” by John Baer for more in-depth information on Pennsylvania and its regrettable illicit political history.

A good documentary of judicial corruption. The question remains - why the corrupt scheme was allowed to flourish for so long, why the disciplinary authorities of the state of Pennsylvania were deaf and blind to reported misconduct of these judges, up until the feds moved in and charged them - and not for selling kids for cash, but for accepting bribes only. I must mention that both judges were given absolute judicial immunity for malicious and corrupt acts when victims of misconduct sued - and that is exactly why absolute judicial immunity, an unconstitutional self-serving brainchild of the judiciary, should be legislatively abolished.