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Reason Magazine’s archive of articles filed under Due Process. Reason is an American libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation.

A Pennsylvania federal court on Tuesday issued a $206 million damages ruling against a pair of ex-judges involved in the commonwealth's so-called "Kids for Cash" judicial kickback scandal, awarding both compensatory and punitive damages to former juvenile detainees wrongfully detained as part of the scheme.

Attorney Al Flora Jr. stood outside a federal courthouse in Scranton 10 years ago and declared victory on behalf of former Luzerne County Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. after a jury acquitted him of 27 of 39 charges. The veteran lawyer insisted the jury validated the defense’s claims the case was never about “cash for kids.” But, a decade later, Flora concedes the kids-for-cash label damaged Ciavarella in the court of public opinion and proved to be a major obstacle to overcome at trial. Truly, he said the defense knew anything but a total acquittal would be a major blow to Ciava...

Disgraced kids-for-cash Judge Mark A. Ciavarella’s bid for a compassionate release from his 28-year federal prison sentence has been denied. Citing a host of medical ailments ranging from chronic kidney disease to hypertension, Ciavarella, 70, argued last month he is at increased risk of developing complications from COVID-19 and that he should be released from Federal Correctional Institution-Ashland, Kentucky, where he is serving his sentence for accepting kickbacks as a Luzerne County judge. In a brief order issued Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Christopher C. Conner agreed that ...

Compassion rarely was on the docket in former Luzerne County Judge Mark A. Ciavarella’s courtroom, where he denied hundreds of teenagers their civil rights and routinely marched them off to detention. He and his partner in crime, former Judge Michael T. Conahan, were co-architects of one of the worst judicial scandals in American history. They received payments of $2.8 million from private detention center operators after moving to close Luzerne County’s own center, and helped fill the private centers at public expense. The aptly titled scandal became known as “kids for cash.â...