Producer-director Robert May's sobering exposé probes a scandal of Dickensian proportions in modern Luzerne County, PA. Mark Ciavarella, a highly visible, stern judge—whose 1995 campaign TV ad opens the documentary—sentenced 3,000 juveniles to incarceration, sometimes for paltry violations such as mocking a teacher on MySpace or accidentally buying stolen property. In 2009, journalists revealed that Ciavarella secretly received $2 million in "finder's fees," ostensibly for shuttling children to a privately owned detention center, leading to screaming headlines over a "kids for cash" deal. Ciavarella, here awaiting trial, defends himself on camera, claiming that the money was fairly earned in consults he made to upgrade a dilapidated prison system, and that the same sentences would have been dealt regardless. This latter argument only serves to make May's point: namely, that Ciavarella's case was merely a visible pathology of a virtual War on Children that has been perpetrated by U.S. authorities spooked by the Columbine massacre (although the American horror of “juvenile delinquency” dates back to the paranoid 1950s). Even as Ciavarella is publicly pilloried, PA school bureaucrats continue to champion harsh enforcement of "zero tolerance" policies for students. Meanwhile, the film interweaves the stories of several kids sentenced in Luzerne County, one of whom later committed suicide. Offering a sobering look at rough and questionable juvenile "justice," this is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (C. Cassady)
Kids for Cash
Kino Lorber, 102 min., PG-13, DVD: $29.95 Volume 30, Issue 2
Kids for Cash
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