...For years, the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses.
The explanation, prosecutors say, was corruption on the bench.
In one of the most shocking cases of courtroom graft on record, two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.
“I’ve never encountered, and I don’t think that we will in our lifetimes, a case where literally thousands of kids’ lives were just tossed aside in order for a couple of judges to make some money,” said Marsha Levick, an attorney with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center, which is representing hundreds of youths sentenced in Wilkes-Barre.
...
Among the offenders were teenagers who were locked up for months for stealing loose change from cars, writing a prank note and possessing drug paraphernalia. Many had never been in trouble before. Some were imprisoned even after probation officers recommended against it.
Many appeared without lawyers, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1967 ruling that children have a constitutional right to counsel.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29142654/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/pa-judges-accused-jailing-kids-cash/
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'Kids for cash' judge gets 28 years in Pennsylvania bribery case
Mark Ciavarella Jr took $1m in bribes from the builder of two detention centres in return for filling them with juvenile offenders
...
Ciavarella, known for his harsh and autocratic courtroom demeanour, filled the beds of the private lockups with children as young as 10, many of them first-time offenders convicted of petty theft and other minor crimes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/11/kids-for-cash-judge-pennsylvania
В Америке широко практикуются частные тюрьмы, т.е. частные компаниии содержат заключённых "на хозрасчёте" - государство или отдельный штат платит им определённую сумму за каждого заключённого. Ну примерно как в Ираке и Афганистане - воюет не американская армия, а некие контракторы-головорезы, с которых почти что и взятки гладки, такой аутсорсинг.
Вот одно из следствий такой приватизации. Судья, совместно с руководством такой частной тюрьмы для несовершеннолетних, организовали непыльный бизнес. Судья присылал им заключённых массовым потоком, включая малолеток 10-11 лет, за мелкое воровство или мелкое хулиганство. За несколько лет через него прошли таким образом много тысяч детей. Руководство тюрьмы платило ему откат (тюрьме же штат платил за каждого заключённого - чем больше тем лучше). В общей сложности получилось, по разным данным, от 1 до 2.5 миллионов долларов.
Судью приговорили к 28 годам тюрьмы. Случай, скорее всего, далеко не единственный.
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