Two Pennsylvania judges have pleaded guilty to receiving more than $2.5 million in kickbacks for conducting kangaroo-style courts and sentencing youthful offenders to privately-run juvenile detention centers.
Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, who were removed from the bench when they were originally charged in January, will probably spend more than seven years in prison as a result of their plea agreements.
However, it is an outrage that there is a chance that they will ever get out of prison. Life sentences without parole would have been the appropriate punishment for such egregious conduct.
Many of the kids they sent away were first-time offenders who had committed minor offenses like possession of small amounts of marijuana, writing fake notes, and spoofing Web pages. For stuff like that, most courts would have sentenced them to probation and remanded them to the custody of their parents.
This is an appalling abuse of power and a complete breach of the public trust. Judges – especially those who are put in charge of juvenile justice – hold a delicate position in our society. The fate of a young person’s freedom and/or future is often in their hands.
Any violation of this trust, especially one in which it is compromised for personal gain, is a serious crime that must be dealt with severely. A mere seven-plus years in prison doesn’t seem like a kind of punishment that fits this crime. Nor does it appear to have much deterrent power against any such future perversion of the halls of justice. Those guys should be put under the jail and the keys ought to be thrown away.
An impartial justice system is one of the cornerstones of a free society. We must have zero tolerance for anyone – particularly those in positions of power – who would attempt to manipulate it for selfish reasons.
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