Luzerne County Judges

Juvenile Law Center attorneys spoke to parents, juveniles as they left courtroom

October 31, 2009

How juvie scandal was uncovered

By Terrie Morgan-Besecker tmorgan@timesleader.com
Law & Order Reporter
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WILKES-BARRE – Tipped off that a county judge was improperly incarcerating juveniles for minor offenses, attorneys for the Juvenile Law Center knew there was just one way to get to the truth:

They had to stand outside juvenile court and talk to parents and juveniles as they left.

It was the spring of 2007. The attorneys didn’t know it then, but they were embarking on an investigation that, two years later, would result in an unprecedented ruling that would overturn the convictions of an estimated 6,500 Luzerne County juveniles.

Bob Schwartz, executive director of the law center, recalled that fateful day on Friday – the day after the state Supreme Court issued the landmark ruling.

His directive to his staff was simple: Wait outside the courtroom and interview people to find out what was happening.

What they learned was that juvenile after juvenile was appearing before Judge Mark Ciavarella without an attorney and that many were being sent away to residential placements for minor offenses.

“It was jaw-dropping,” Schwartz said. “Once we started pulling on threads, it became clear. These were not isolated cases, but an enormous pattern of kids being hurt by juvenile court.”

The law center had been alerted to problems by Laurene Transue, a White Haven woman who alleged Ciavarella had incarcerated her teenage daughter after she pleaded guilty to harassment for creating a fake MySpace page that mocked a school official.

It was a story most people would have found hard to believe, but not Schwartz. He was quite familiar with Ciavarella due to court challenges the law center, a non-profit juvenile advocacy group, had filed against him in 1999.

“We didn’t have any skepticism at all,” Schwartz said. “It was more of, ‘There he goes again.’ ”

The 1999 case involved a youth, identified as A.M., who was incarcerated after he appeared at a hearing before Ciavarella without an attorney.

The law center appealed to the Superior Court, which overturned the conviction after ruling Ciavarella had failed to properly question the youth to ensure he understood the ramifications of appearing without counsel.

After the decision, Ciavarella was quoted in a local news story as saying he would never again let a child appear without an attorney. Schwartz said the law center heard no other complaints and felt confident the issue was resolved.

Then Transue called in April 2007.

“We had seen abuses in that court before, and we wanted to know more,” he said.

Interviews with parents outside the court convinced the law center that Ciavarella was engaging in a “massive civil right violation and huge abuse of power,” Schwartz said.

“Lots of kids make mistakes. So many of the cases being passed through Ciavarella’s courtroom involved typical adolescent nonsense that became criminalized,” he said.

The center then sought data from state agencies that track juvenile court statistics and learned that 50 percent of juveniles who appeared before Ciavarella were not represented by an attorney. They also discovered the county’s institutional placement rate in 2006 was 24.5 percent, which was more than double the state average.

With Transue and a second juvenile, Jessica Van Reeth, as the lead plaintiffs, the center filed a petition with the state Supreme Court in April 2008. The petition asked the court to take jurisdiction and overturn all convictions of juveniles who were not represented by counsel.

In an unprecedented move, the state Department of Public Welfare and State Office of Attorney General filed legal briefs in support of the law center. Both agencies expressed concern that Luzerne County’s high placement rate could be partly tied to the lack of legal representation.

Despite the support of the two agencies, the Supreme Court in December declined to take the case.

It reversed itself one month later, when Ciavarella and former judge Michael Conahan were charged by federal authorities with improperly accepting millions of dollars from the owner and builder of the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care centers.

The court in February appointed Berks County judge Arthur Grim to review all of Ciavarella’s cases starting in 2003, the year Ciavarella was alleged to have begun accepting bribes.

Grim issued his final report in August, recommending that all juvenile convictions between 2003 and 2008 be vacated and the records of the juveniles be expunged. He also recommended that prosecutors be barred from retrying the youths, other than those who are still incarcerated, on probation or who owe fines or restitution.

The Supreme Court on Thursday adopted those recommendations in total.

Schwartz said it was a “tearful day” at the law center after attorneys heard the news.

The Luzerne County case has been a massive undertaking, he said. It’s gotten even more complex with the center’s decision to file a federal civil rights suit against Ciavarella, Conahan and multiple other players in the juvenile corruption scandal.

As it celebrates victory in the criminal cases, Schwartz said the center’s work is far from over.

The Supreme Court gave District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll the option to retry some of the remaining cases. Musto Carroll is now reviewing files to decide which ones will be retried.

The law center also is involved in preparations related to the civil case, which involves over a dozen defendants and dozens of attorneys.

Whatever the final outcome of the cases, Schwartz said he takes pride in what his organization has accomplished thus far.

“There are three things that drive us: To see kids are treated fairly; to see kids have an opportunity to succeed in life and to see kids aren’t harmed by a system that is supposed to help them,” he said. “That’s our mission.”

About the Juvenile Law Center

The Juvenile Law Center, founded in 1975, is a non-profit organization that advocates for the legal rights of juveniles. The center operates on a budget of roughly $2 million each year, with most of its funding coming from charitable foundations and private donations, said Bob Schwartz, the center’s executive director and co-founder.

Donations can be made through its Web site at www.Jlc.org, or by mail to: The Juvenile Law Center, 4th floor of The Philadelphia Building, 1315 Walnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19107

Terrie Morgan-Besecker, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 570-829-7179.

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