As posted by the Associated Press on October 29, 2009
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33539621/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
As stated in the article (link above) a judge overseeing a Luzerne County Juvenile Court was violating the juveniles’ rights to a fair trial by allowing them to frequently appear without lawyers, expediting trials, and immediately locking the children in shackles to be led to a private jail of which the owner was paying-off the judge. Two judges were charged with taking over 2.8 million dollars in payoffs/bribes affecting the cases of over 6,500 juveniles.
This is a disgrace of the entire legal system and to the rights of the juveniles which were affected.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overturned the convictions of the juveniles and states that they will not be retrying most of the cases (the exception being the most “dangerous offenders” but double-jeopardy may be a factor in these cases.
This has very negative implications on society. Yes, the juveniles should have been granted a fair trial. Now however, without being retried and their convictions overturned, they will be released into society without penalty to continue to commit crimes.
Additionally, according to the article, many of the families are filing civil lawsuits against the judges; of which the judges are attempting to seek immunity. If these lawsuits are won, the families of the offenders (and possibly the juveniles themselves) will actually profit immensely from the crimes of the juveniles.
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In reality, the "profit", if any lawsuits are won would be to remedy the wrongs done to the juvenile and their families not a "profit" from the crimes of the juvenile. Let's say for example that the juvenile process was done in a fair and correct manner and the juvenile was sentenced to an institution where he or she was beaten or raped, the juvenile and his or her family would have valid grounds to recive compensation from the institution that abused him or her. Same principal. Typically, when a juvenile becomes known to the system, they are followed therapeutically for several years. I would wonder how many of these "released juveniles" will receive some level of mental health or behavioral interventions. While the courts can't necessarily mandate this, perhaps the state needs to make the option available and accessible for those juveniles and families who are willing to acknowledge a problem and seek help. In many cases, juvenile offenders are acting out of simple immaturity, emotional issues or psychiatric illnesses. In many circumstances, if a family and the juvenile is given an affordable, accessible and non-punitive program, the outcome of family support and behavioral changes are positive. Unlike adult offenders, juveniles are substantially influential. Given the appropriate interventions, they can be successfully rehabilitated in a very large number of cases.
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