Lessons from Luzerne County: Promoting Fairness, Transparency and Accountability
May 27, 2010 Recommendations to the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile JusticeThe scheme, commonly known as ?kids for cash,? sent 25% of juvenile defendants in Luzerne County to out-of-home placements from 2002 to 2006. Michael Conahan forced one county-owned juvenile detention center to close, and made an agreement with a for-profit facility in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania where he sent youth offenders. Judge Ciavarella allegedly sent youth offenders to PA Child Care LLC and a facility in western Pennsylvania in exchange for payments. It has been reported that Jude Ciavarella sent children as young as 11 to jail . . .
