Article
Federal appeals court upholds most 'kids for cash' convictions [USA]
All but one of the convictions of a former county judge in the "kids for cash" juvenile justice scandal in northeastern Pennsylvania were upheld Friday by a federal appeals court...At the heart of the case was Ciavarella's involvement with privately run juvenile detention centers and allegations that as a juvenile judge he sent children to the centers so that he could make money...With the criminal investigation, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out about 4,000 juvenile convictions in cases handled by Ciavarella. And in December, a federal judge approved a nearly $18 million settlement for claims from about 1,600 juveniles that they were wrongfully incarcerated by judges.