New York Times, Comcast Newsmakers Review "Kids for Cash” By Pulitzer Prize-winning Author; Juvenile Law Center Efforts Featured
Above: Comcast Newsmakers reporter Robert Traynham (left) with author Bill Ecenbarger (center)
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Bill Ecenbarger’s new book, “Kids for Cash,” details the scandal of the same name that occurred from 2003-2008 in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, where ex-judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan accepted millions of dollars in kickbacks from two private, for-profit juvenile facilities in exchange for sending hundreds of children to those facilities (as well as other out-of-home placements) for often-minor offenses. Many of the children appeared in court without counsel.
In a review of “Kids for Cash” in The New York Times this week, writer Abbe Smith calls the book “a harrowing tale, lucidly told by a journalist with a good eye for detail” and counts Juvenile Law Center attorneys among the “heroes … who represented two of the detained children and petitioned the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to stop the widespread waiver of counsel.”
Bill Ecenbarger recently sat down with Comcast Newsmakers’ Robert Traynham to discuss the “kids-for-cash” scandal and his book, giving Juvenile Law Center accolades as the organization that, along with the help of the US Attorneys’ Office, uncovered the scandal back in 2007.
Ecenbarger’s brief interview will air on Comcast Newsmakers the week of April 8, but is available to view online now.
Juvenile Law Center continues to push for juvenile justice reforms in the wake of the “kids for cash” scandal and to seek justice for the more than 2,500 children who were involved. Read more about our ongoing work here.