Phil, this is your opportunity to become famous, more famous than Ken Kesey with his "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" book. You have the talent, perseverence, and the intuition to write a book about this and you'll sell millions of copies.

Peace be with you Philip

With all you know about young people in the mental health system, are you telling me this greed within the juvenile detention system comes as a supprise to you? Again the tip of the ice berg my friend.

love eternal
tad

Philip Dawdy responds: it sure surprises me coming from judges.

I'm glad that someone finally had the nerve to call him on it and take him to court. When I was in university, a friend of mine had spent some years as a young teen in a psych institution. The reason? His mother had remarried & wanted him out of the picture. When he was old enough to be emancipated he got out. At the time I knew him, he was putting himself through university and was an accomplished violinist. He was a sad guy though. Adn no wonder. But the point is--someone put him in that hospital and someone approved his staying there.

it reminds me of the psychiatrist at a private psych hospital who openingly admits to using the ITA (involuntary treatment)to keep teens 6 wks to several months, while medicating them, and being paid 13 cents on the dollar by the state; while most kids are foster kids waiting for RTC placement. Some things in this system truly make me sick; and the judges in this story are sick individuals.

Does our society have no ethical boundaries or moral conscious anymore? I won't be surprised to see these judges get off with a little slap on the wrist.

Influence, Money, Greed, and then POWER run amuck. Just makes you shake your head, and wonder where we are all headed?

The family court system is a huge piggy bank for the social services system, states, and pharma. Some states give bounties. Guardianship is gold.

A judge is just a lawyer who knew a governor.

"A judge is just a lawyer who knew a governor."

In this case, the judge is a lawyer who ran an outsider's campaign appealing to popular calls for tough judges who don't coddle offenders. So, local PA voters who wanted more punishment and less mercy deserve the credit for Ciavarella. They got their wish.

You've got to wonder how these people live with themselves. Thanks for bringing this up.

Wow, that's disgusting. As a daughter of two (respectable) lawyers and the granddaughter of a (wonderful) judge, I hate how this reflects on the "justice" system. Why should people trust the courts when nonsense like this happens? Outrageous. And for it to have gone on for so long, and not be called out by anyone else in the system (nor picked up on by the tax authorities, though I suppose the red flag nature depends somewhat on the nature of this company in Florida)... it's just terrible. Countless kids whose lives have been damaged by these greedy &%#ers. Sickening.