Penn. Court Tosses 6,500 Juvenile Convictions After Scandal

It was one of the most upsetting, egregious judicial corruption stories in recent memory. Two former Pennsylvania judges are awaiting trial for allegedly accepting millions of dollars in kickbacks from private detention facilities to convict juveniles and send them to be incarcerated.

To Pennsylvania's credit, though, the state is taking appropriate action to rectify the damage caused by these evil, greedy former judges -- Michael Conahan (left) and Mark Ciavarella (right). The state supreme court yesterday dismissed thousands of convictions heard by Ciavarella. A juvenile justice advocacy group said more than 6,500 juveniles were affected and most won't be retried.

"This is exactly the relief these kids needed," said Marsha Levick, the legal director of the Juvenile Law Center. "It's the most serious judicial corruption scandal in our history and the court took an extraordinary step in addressing it."

In another extraordinary step in the case, a federal judge in August overturned a plea bargain deal accepted by the two judges, who have admitted to accepting $2.8 million from the private prison operator. The men had pled guilty to fraud and tax evasion and were expecting a sentence somewhere around 87 months. The judge said the men hadn't accepted responsibility for their actions and tossed the guilty pleas. They're now awaiting trial on a 48-count indictment.

I have to stick to my guns in this case and say that seven years sounds like a sufficient sentence (just because hundreds of thousands of Americans are serving outsized, ineffective, overly harsh sentences doesn't mean we have to exact vengeance on the very guys who were handing down those sentences, although it is tempting). I would, however, like to see these guys convicted of something other than tax evasion.

And I hope yesterday decision to overturn convictions brings some healing to the thousands of families these men impacted through their greed. Juveniles who spent unnecessary time in detention won't get that time back, but they can now hopefully move on with their lives.