Wordiezett So much average

Cortechba Overrated

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Tss5078 It is one of the most disturbing stories of just how greedy and corrupt people can truly be. In 2000, Luzerne County Pennsylvania needed a new Juvenile detention facility, but couldn't afford it, so they privatized it. Leading the group that won the contract, were two of their own Juvenile court judges. That alone was a grey area, but not the issue. Soon, the judges learned that the more occupants the jail had, the more money the facility would receive from the state. So, despite the law, which requires juvenile offenders to be sentenced to the least restrictive environment possible, kids as young as thirteen, with no previous record, were being sent to JV for very minor offenses. As a result, the facility was receiving millions from the states, which the judges were embezzling. As the scandal unfolded, this documentary was filmed and shockingly, both judges agreed to be a part of it, claiming they were always tough on juvenile crime and had done nothing wrong. Judges never comment on cases and defendants are always advised not to talk to the media, but for some reason these judges did, and the way they justify their actions is truly sickening. There is even one scene where a mother confronts one of the judges outside of court house, holding a picture. She says to him, this is my son, he was fifteen when you put him in jail for drinking some beers and fighting with other teens. He served three years and within six months of being released he killed himself, and that's your fault. The judge could care less, it was truly amazing. The documentary is an eye opener and it follows the scandal through the family and offenders stories, through the investigation, right up through the trial and outcome, it really something to see. The whole thing really makes me wonder, if judges can be swayed that easily, just how corrupt is this country and how many truly innocent people are there sitting in jail or on a list somewhere, all because someone was paid to put them there?

mhendroff having just watched this doc i am left feeling that it could have been more complete.As others have pointed out - no mention of the Prison/Detention Centre for profit angle, which caused the issue in the first place. No mention on what happened to the owner of the facility who paid them the 'finder's fee'.I guess that would have probably dragged the running time too long, and the topic has been covered elsewhere already (most notably in my opinion in the excellent "The house i live in"). But still a couple of minutes to explain the root cause (apart from greed) would have helped.Also - no real scientific explanation on the reason why kids should not be treated as adults to begin with. And no explanation why the USA did not sign the UN Charter? Having said that - it tried to be a well balanced piece - but the most serious flaw to me was the failure to mention the yacht and luxury condos the 2 judges bought with the money. And how they channeled the funds through various accounts and companies so that it would be well hidden. I had to dig this bit of information up myself after viewing the doc. This would negate the small part of me that actually still had some sympathy for judge Ciavarella after his tearful passage at the end of the documentary. He did not just 'pay some debts and provide for his kids'. Plain greed.

MartinHafer The story about two judges in Northeast Pennsylvania destroying lives is a very compelling story. However, how the film told this story left me rather cold for a variety of reasons. The story focuses mostly on Judge Ciavarella--a judge known for throwing the book (so to speak) at kids with minor offenses as well as, reportedly, sending kids to a juvenile detention facility in which he had a financial interest. In essence, folks said he was getting cash for sending kids there. It also talks, to a much lesser extent, on another judge, Michael Conahan. Both admitted to taking money from this private juvenile prison--but both make a wide variety of excuses for what they did.So why didn't I like the documentary more? Well the biggest problem is that the film allowed Judge Ciavarella way too much time...way too much. While he admitted to 'making mistakes', he mostly just made excuses and tried to talk his way out of actions that clearly were NOT ethical or legal. But by allowing him so much time and by allowing him to say things often unchallenged tended to seriously diminish from the message--such as 'I wasn't as bad as they say'. He was a judge for goodness sake and he sentenced children to prison with reckless abandon! The story clearly would have been much stronger had they given more than just a small number of cases where the judge seemed to have overstepped reasonable sentencing to show more of a pattern. The cases they gave were pretty egregious--kids who should have, at most, received minor suspensions being sent away for years! So quibbling about did he or did he not get paid for each kid he sent is a real distraction--he did destroy some kids who clearly were not yet delinquents and this should have been more the focus. After all, 2480 juvenile cases have SINCE been overturned or expunged! THAT should have been the point--driven home again and again.The bottom line is that a documentary should galvanize the audience towards or against something--this one just left you feeling a bit ambivalent. I could see some watching this and thinking the judges weren't all that bad! With 15 and 28 year sentences, I'd say that's really BAD.By the way, I did like the music.

Walt-Most This is a beautifully made film about the huge judicial scandal that became known as "kids for cash." Basically, two judges in Pennsylvania secretly received millions of dollars from the owners of a for-profit prison for juveniles in their jurisdiction, while at the same time pulling strings to give the prison a monopoly on juvenile detentions and (in the case of one of the judges) sentencing hundreds (literally, hundreds) of juveniles to years of incarceration in the same prison, without due process and often for truly minor misbehavior.The documentary tells its story through interviews, news footage, and a limited number of title cards. There is no narrator, and the voice(s) of the interviewer(s) are not heard. The focus is on five of the hundreds of teenagers who were imprisoned in this scam: Charlie Balasavage, Justin Bodnar, Hillary Transue, Edward Kenzakoski, and Amanda Lorah. The interviews with the victims are heartbreaking. We also hear from the two judges (Ciavarella and Conahan), who allowed themselves to be interviewed for the film while the federal cases against them were pending. In some ways, this footage, while infuriating to watch, was the most interesting aspect of the film. Among the other interviewees are Terrie Morgan, the reporter who mainly covered the scandal for the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader (and who serves as a de facto narrator), and Marsha Levick and Robert Schwartz, two attorneys with the non-profit Juvenile Law Center who worked to have the cases affected by the scandal vacated.The events covered here present dangerously rich material for a filmmaker. Should the story be about money? About power? About the juvenile justice system in general? The one weakness of the film is that it moves around among all of these themes without clearly digging into any of them. The opening and closing title sequences suggest that the third, broadest theme is the focus. But if so, why use the damage caused by two judges who were clearly corrupt as the vehicle?Despite that flaw, the film deserves 8 stars for its excellent production values and, most of all, the powerful interview footage, which brings home the effects the scam has had on so many lives.