主题：【原创】回应帖子美国为什么罕有贪污与腐败？谈西方腐败 -- 给我一张纸

这是历史上少有的丑闻——美国一家地方法院的法官，因收受私营监狱260万美元的贿赂，蓄意将至少2000名无辜少年关进私营监狱。上周五，宾州最高法院判处两名法官有罪，他们面临7年监禁。

　　在美国，竟然出现了这样一件怪事——一些犯了小错的青少年在没有律师陪同的情况下被送到法官面前，1到2分钟后，就被送到私营的青少年监狱，少则几月，多则几年。这一丑闻近日才被媒体公开，最终原因竟是两名审判法官接受了私营监狱260万美元的贿赂。

　　据报道，宾夕法尼亚州共有5000名所谓的少年罪犯，其中2000人都是因为两名法官的贪赃枉法而无辜入狱的。他们犯下的大多是从车中偷取零钱、写恶作剧纸条的过错。庭审只有1到2分钟，就被送到青少年监狱，这些青少年在没有律师陪同的情况下被送到法官面前，而根据美国1967年最高法院决议，少年有权拥有律师。

　　这起令人震惊的腐败案件的主角是卢泽恩地方法院法官马克·恰瓦雷拉和迈克尔·科纳汉，他们被查出收受了建筑公司和私营监狱企业主高达260万美元的贿赂。日前，宾夕法尼亚州最高法院已判定这两名法官有罪，他们即将面临7年的监禁。

　　据悉，在美国，私营监狱经营者的收入取决于关押囚犯的数量和关押时间的长短。私人经营者往往通过游说，试图增加犯人服刑时间，实施更为严厉的判刑标准以增加囚禁人数，避免监狱床位闲置。

　　代理这一案件的律师马萨·里维克说：“我从来没有遇见过此类案件，法官会为了钱忽视孩子生命，并把这么多孩子送到监狱里去。”虽然这些行贿的公司还没有被起诉，但调查仍在继续。

英文非上文翻译稿相关报道:

不知后续如何.也许最终并没有中文报道中2000人这么多.但数百人应该是有的.

Several hundred families filed a class-action suit Friday against two Pennsylvania judges who pleaded guilty on Thursday to accepting $2.6 million in kickbacks for sending juveniles to private detention facilities.

“At the hands of two grossly corrupt judges and several conspirators, hundreds of Pennsylvania children, their families and loved ones, were victimized and their civil rights were violated,” said Michael J. Cefalo, one of the lawyers representing the families. “It’s our intent to make sure that the system rights this terrible injustice and holds those responsible accountable.”

Pennsylvania lawmakers called on Friday for hearings into the state’s juvenile justice system. And the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia, which blew the whistle on the judges, said it had sworn affidavits from families who said they had sought court-appointed counsel but were told that their children would have to wait weeks, sometimes months, for a lawyer. During that time, the children would have to remain in detention, the families said.

The two judges, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan, pleaded guilty in Federal District Court in Scranton, Pa., to wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States for taking more than $2.6 million in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers run by PA Child Care and a sister company, Western PA Child Care. Their plea agreements call for sentences of more than seven years in prison.

As many as 5,000 juveniles are believed to have appeared before Judge Ciavarella while the kickback scheme was going on. The judges are currently free on an unsecured $1 million bond, and they have surrendered their passports and a condominium in Florida. Neither is allowed out of the state without permission.

State Senator Stewart J. Greenleaf, a Republican from Montgomery County who is the chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee, said he intended to hold a hearing to find ways to help the children and their families once the federal investigation was done. A spokesman in Mr. Greenleaf’s office said one option was to provide money from the crime victims compensation fund.

“Money is important, but my son’s life has already been completely destroyed,” said Ruby Cherise Uca, whose son, Chad, 18, was sentenced to three months of detention by Judge Ciavarella in 2005, when Chad was in eighth grade.

Chad, who had no prior offenses, was charged with simple assault after shoving a boy at school and causing him to cut his head on a locker. Chad returned to school his freshman year, but he was so far behind in classes and so stigmatized by his teachers and peers, his mother said, that he soon dropped out.

Federal investigators remained silent Friday about whether they would file charges against the operators of the detention centers or who else they were considering as possible conspirators.

But a law enforcement official confirmed Friday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation visited a transitional housing program in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where Judge Ciavarella furloughed inmates who had been sentenced by other judges, as federal authorities continue to scrutinize actions by Judge Ciavarella and Judge Conahan.

Lawyers for Robert J. Powell, the owner of one of the detention centers, released a letter saying Mr. Powell was not complicit in the kickback scheme but was a victim of demands from the judges for payment.

Robert Schwartz, executive director of the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia, said that juveniles should not be allowed to waive their right to counsel, as is permitted in Pennsylvania, and that if families wanted a lawyer but could not afford one, they should get representation.

Mr. Schwartz added that Luzerne County, where the judges handled cases, had only one public defender on staff for juveniles. The juvenile court processes about 1,200 juvenile defendants a year.