Kids for Cash is a neat documentary covering the unfolding of the "Kids for Cash" scandal in Luzern country, PA, where two judges sent more than two thousand children to a juvenile detention center while getting paybacks from the private operation of the same facility.
The filmmakers had personal access to both accused judges, who gave lengthy interviews on camera. However, the producers didn't let that fact cloud their views on the whole affair as it is common in such productions. Instead, we have several interviews with young victims of the scheme and their parents.
What is not so good about the movie are is the parallelism of the stories of victims they follow. The cut points on the narratives look hastily put together instead of carefully chosen to permeate the viewer to the individuality and commonality of each story.
At the end, viewers are left with the impression of two corrupt men who genuinely think they weren't doing anything wrong other than some minor procedural violations. Although not the main theme of the documentary, one is left to wonder how horrendously normalized it had become to just take "bad kids" away from school and send them to correctional facilities.
Kids for Cash
2013
Action / Crime / Documentary / Drama
Kids for Cash
2013
Action / Crime / Documentary / Drama
Plot summary
Filmmaker Robert May chronicles the case of a once-respected judge who received kickbacks for sending juvenile offenders to prison, even for minor crimes.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
November 21, 2022 at 09:22 PM
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Interesting take on an outrageous juvenile judicial scandal
Gripping & Mind Blowing
This gripping and mind blowing documentary is one of the most powerful films I've seen in a long time. I have to admit I was so infuriated by this film that I found my stomach roiling and my blood pressure rising throughout.
It mainly focuses on 2 Luzerne County, Pa. Juvenile Court Judges, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, with more emphasis on Ciavarella. He ran for office initially on an anti-crime platform, and from what the movie describes once in office ran what seemed like a "kangaroo court", with juvenile cases before him sometimes lasting less than 2 minutes before sending them off to detention centers.
Once this occurred the parents of these teens would lose their parental rights immediately, and the county or state would become their legal guardians. Apparently, there were deceptive tactics used where many parents were intimidated or deceived into signing waivers of attorney before entering Judge Ciavarella's courtroom. Some of these juveniles would end up spending years in detention centers for minor offenses, as a result leading to severe if not tragic consequences for all concerned.
Ciavarella dished out these judgments, per the film, in a most arbitrary and dictatorial manner, but as it turns out he comes across as being the ultimate hypocrite, fully in denial. You see he was receiving money from the very detention centers he was ending these teens to, amounting to millions of dollars, plus not declaring this money on ethics or income tax filings.
Later, Ciavarella along with Conahan accepted millions more dollars for what they described as a 'finder's fee" for helping to get the funding and construction for a new Juvenile Detention Center, and, of course, not declaring that money either. Here's a judge asking the head of the construction company offering the fee--"Is this legal"--give me a break! You just shake your head in disbelief! I won't go into more details here, as I don't want this review to be too lengthy, but let's just say justice was eventually served regarding these two judges. The outburst of a distraught mother on the steps of the courthouse was one of the most electrifying and heart-rending scenes I've seen on screen in a long time.
In summary, I thought this documentary, directed by Robert May, tried to present as fair a picture as possible regarding all these events. Also, it tried to point out the horrible systemic failures of these problems in our country, whereas the leadership to tackle the juvenile justice system seems sorely lacking. Finally, I thought the movie was very well researched and edited, and came across as a gripping piece of cinema.
High-quality documentary about shocking injustice
This is a beautifully made film about the huge judicial scandal that became known as "kids for cash." Basically, two judges in Pennsylvania secretly received millions of dollars from the owners of a for-profit prison for juveniles in their jurisdiction, while at the same time pulling strings to give the prison a monopoly on juvenile detentions and (in the case of one of the judges) sentencing hundreds (literally, hundreds) of juveniles to years of incarceration in the same prison, without due process and often for truly minor misbehavior.
The documentary tells its story through interviews, news footage, and a limited number of title cards. There is no narrator, and the voice(s) of the interviewer(s) are not heard. The focus is on five of the hundreds of teenagers who were imprisoned in this scam: Charlie Balasavage, Justin Bodnar, Hillary Transue, Edward Kenzakoski, and Amanda Lorah. The interviews with the victims are heartbreaking. We also hear from the two judges (Ciavarella and Conahan), who allowed themselves to be interviewed for the film while the federal cases against them were pending. In some ways, this footage, while infuriating to watch, was the most interesting aspect of the film. Among the other interviewees are Terrie Morgan, the reporter who mainly covered the scandal for the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader (and who serves as a de facto narrator), and Marsha Levick and Robert Schwartz, two attorneys with the non-profit Juvenile Law Center who worked to have the cases affected by the scandal vacated.
The events covered here present dangerously rich material for a filmmaker. Should the story be about money? About power? About the juvenile justice system in general? The one weakness of the film is that it moves around among all of these themes without clearly digging into any of them. The opening and closing title sequences suggest that the third, broadest theme is the focus. But if so, why use the damage caused by two judges who were clearly corrupt as the vehicle?
Despite that flaw, the film deserves 8 stars for its excellent production values and, most of all, the powerful interview footage, which brings home the effects the scam has had on so many lives.