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Kids For Cash Scandal
The "kids for cash" scandal centered on judicial kickbacks to two judges at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, US. In 2008, judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella were convicted of accepting money in return for imposing harsh adjudications on juveniles to increase occupancy at the PA Child Care for-profit detention centers. Ciavarella disposed thousands of children to extended stays in youth centers for offenses as trivial as mocking an assistant principal on Myspace or trespassing in a vacant building. After a judge rejected an initial plea agreement in 2009, a federal grand jury returned a 48-count indictment. In 2010, Conahan pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy and was sentenced to 17.5 years in federal prison. Ciavarella opted to go to trial the following year. He was convicted on 12 of 39 counts and sentenced to 28 years in federal prison. In the wake of the scandal, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania overtu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kids For Cash
''Kids for Cash'' is a 2013 documentary film about the "kids for cash" scandal which unfolded in 2008 over judicial kickbacks in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Two judges were found guilty of accepting kickbacks in exchange for sending thousands of juveniles to detention centers when probation or a lesser penalty would have been appropriate. Some juveniles were sent to detention centers for incidents as minor as theft of a CD from Walmart. Synopsis In the film, former judge Michael Conahan admits to his crime and accepts the plea agreement. On September 23, 2011, he was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison and ordered to pay 874,000 dollars in restitution. Unlike Conahan, former judge Mark Ciavarella did not accept a plea agreement and completely denied allegations of his involvement in the kids-for-cash scam. He and his family went as far as accusing Conahan of lying about the scam. They claimed Ciavarella was being falsely accused of a crime he did not commit. As a result, he was se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indictment
An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felony, felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of an indictable offence, an offence that requires an indictment. Australia Section 80 of the Constitution of Australia provides that "the trial on indictment of any offence against any law of the Commonwealth shall be by jury". The High Court of Australia has consistently used a narrow interpretation of this clause, allowing the Parliament of Australia to define which offences proceed on indictment rather than conferring a universal right to a jury trial. Section 4G of the ''Crimes Act 1914'' provides that "offences against a law of the Commonwealth punishable by imprisonment for a period exceeding 12 months are indictable offences, unless the contrary intention appears". Canada A direct indictment is one in which the ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since 1854, the city has been coextensive with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the Delaware Valley, the nation's seventh-largest and one of world's largest metropolitan regions, with 6.245 million residents . The city's population at the 2020 census was 1,603,797, and over 56 million people live within of Philadelphia. Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Quaker. The city served as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony during the British colonial era and went on to play a historic and vital role as the central meeting place for the nation's founding fathers whose plans and actions in Philadelphia ultimately inspired the American Revolution and the nation's inde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Citizens' Voice
''The Citizens' Voice'' is a compact newspaper published daily in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Its 2005 circulation was 32,862, mostly Luzerne County residents. Founding The newspaper was founded in 1978 by striking employees of the Wilkes-Barre Publishing Company, which published the ''Times Leader''. Established on October 9 of that year, ''The Citizens' Voice'' was initially a "strike newspaper" published by the local Newspaper Guild, but quickly grew to become a direct competitor to the ''Times Leader''. After 11 years, the Newspaper Guild turned control of ''The Citizens' Voice'' over to the original striking employees. The Citizens' Voice, Inc., was formed to manage the newspaper. ''The Citizens' Voice'' added a Sunday edition in 1993. 2000 sale In 2000, the newspaper was sold to Scranton-based Times-Shamrock Communications. That year, the company formed the Northeast Pennsylvania News Alliance, a news-sharing agreement between Times-Shamrock's newspapers and several loca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nepotism
Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, and other activities. The term originated with the assignment of nephews to important positions by Catholic popes and bishops. Nepotism has been criticized since the ancient times by several philosophers, including Aristotle, Valluvar, and Confucius, condemning it as both evil and unwise. Origins The term comes from Italian word ''nepotismo'',"Nepotism." Dictionary.com. Retrieved 20 June 2013. which is based on Latin root ''nepos'' meaning nephew. Since the an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federal Bureau Of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, the FBI is also a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and reports to both the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence. A leading U.S. counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and criminal investigative organization, the FBI has jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes. Although many of the FBI's functions are unique, its activities in support of national security are comparable to those of the British MI5 and NCA; the New Zealand GCSB and the Russian FSB. Unlike the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which has no law enforcement authority and is focused on intelligence collection abroad, the FBI is primarily a domestic agency, maintaining 56 field offices in major cities throug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PR Newswire
PR Newswire is a distributor of press releases headquartered in Chicago. The service was created in 1954 to allow companies to electronically send press releases to news organizations, using teleprinters at first. The founder, Herbert Muschel, operated the service from his house in Manhattan for approximately 15 years. The business was eventually sold to Western Union and then United Newspapers of London. In December 2015, Cision Inc. announced it would acquire the company. On January 1, 2021, Cision formally merged PR Newswire into the company, ending its status as a legal entity after 66 years. Cision plans to continue utilizing the brand name for the foreseeable future in the United States, as well as in Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions. History PR Newswire was founded in March 1954 by Herbert Muschel, who ran the business from his town house in New York City for the first 15 years of its operation. The company used telecommunications lines and teleprinters owned by Weste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pennsylvania General Assembly
The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly and was unicameral. Since the Constitution of 1776, the legislature has been known as the General Assembly. The General Assembly became a bicameral legislature in 1791. Membership The General Assembly has 253 members, consisting of a Senate with 50 members and a House of Representatives with 203 members, making it the second-largest state legislature in the nation, behind New Hampshire, and the largest full-time legislature. Senators are elected for a term of four years. Representatives are elected for a term of two years. The Pennsylvania general elections are held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November in even-numbered years. A vacant seat must be filled by special election, the date of which is set by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Class Action
A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class action originated in the United States and is still predominantly a US phenomenon, but Canada, as well as several European countries with civil law, have made changes in recent years to allow consumer organizations to bring claims on behalf of consumers. Description In a typical class action, a plaintiff sues a defendant or a number of defendants on behalf of a group, or class, of absent parties. This differs from a traditional lawsuit, where one party sues another party, and all of the parties are present in court. Although standards differ between states and countries, class actions are most common where the allegations usually involve at least 40 people who the same defendant has injured in the same way. Instead of each damaged person brin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juvenile Law Center
Juvenile Law Center, founded in 1975, is a non-profit public interest law firm for children in the United States. History Juvenile Law Center was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1975 by four Temple University Beasley School of Law graduates: Robert Schwartz, Marsha Levick, Judith Chomsky Judith Brown Chomsky is an American human rights lawyer. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1942, and is the sister-in-law of MIT professor Noam Chomsky. She became involved with politics when she participated in demonstrations in the ..., and Philip Margolis. Juvenile Law Center originally operated as a walk-in legal clinic for young people in Philadelphia with legal problems. It grew from a walk-in clinic to a statewide organization and has since grown to a national public interest law firm for children, filing its first brief in the United States Supreme Court in 1983. Juvenile Law Center played a role in exposing the Luzerne County, Pennsylvania "kids-for-cash" sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Supreme Court Of Pennsylvania
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania began in 1684 as the Provincial Court, and casual references to it as the "Supreme Court" of Pennsylvania were made official in 1722 upon its reorganization as an entity separate from the control of the royal governor. Today, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania maintains a discretionary docket, meaning that the Court may choose which cases it accepts, with the exception of mandatory death penalty appeals, and certain appeals from the original jurisdiction of the Commonwealth Court. This discretion allows the Court to wield powerful influence on the formation and interpretation of Pennsylvania law. History The Original Pennsylvania constitutions, drafted by William Penn, established a Prov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Scranton Times-Tribune
''The Scranton Times-Tribune'' is a morning newspaper serving the Scranton, Pennsylvania, area. It is the flagship title of Times-Shamrock Communications and has been run by three generations of the Lynett-Haggerty family. On Sundays, the paper is published as ''The Sunday Times''. The paper has an average circulation of 47,663. History The current paper is the result of a 2005 merger between the afternoon ''Scranton Times'' and morning ''Scranton Tribune''. The ''Times'' was founded in 1870. It struggled under six owners before E. J. Lynett bought the paper in 1895. Within 20 years, the ''Times'' was the dominant newspaper in northeastern Pennsylvania, and the third-largest in the state (behind only the ''Philadelphia Inquirer'' and the ''Pittsburgh Press''). In January 1923, Lynett founded one of Scranton's first radio stations, WQAN. The Lynett family still owns the station today under the calls WEJL. Lynett died in 1943, and his three children took control of the paper with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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