Student Satirist Gets 3 Months; the Judge, Likely More

ponraul writes "When Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., 58, sentenced Hillary Transue, 17, on a harassment charge stemming from a MySpace parody of her high school's assistant principal, Hillary expected to be let off with a stern lecture; instead, the Wilkes-Barre, PA area teen got three months in a commercially operated juvenile detention center. In a reversal of fortune, Ciavarella and his colleague, Judge Conahan, 56, find themselves trying to plea-bargain an 87-month sentence in Federal correctional facilities relating to a kick-back scheme that netted the pair $2.6 Million and PA Child Care 5000 inmates." True poetic justice would be for these corrupt, callous judges to serve their sentences in the same kind of environment to which they were happy to dispatch juvenile defendants.

Comments

3 months for satire?

[wjh31]

im suprised myspace isnt filtered in china

Re:3 months for satire?

[SatanicPuppy]

Don't buy it. You can't really "satire" your high school principle; they're unlikely to meet the "public figure" criteria that would protect the person who is making fun of them from legal repercussions if anything strayed over the line.

That being said, the sentence in this case was wildly inappropriate. The page could never have been mistaken for real libel due to the inclusion of text explicitly stating that the page is a joke. On top of that, jail time? For a juvenile?

Amusingly, it's high profile, geek-enraging cases like this that probably got him caught. If he'd kept sending kids to juvy for misdemeanors, it wouldn't have been covered so widely, and we wouldn't have given a damn.

Re:3 months for satire?

[Gilmoure]

C'mon, binding/imprisoning people for profit?

And they said slavery was dead.

Re:3 months for satire?

[Karl Cocknozzle]

You can't really "satire" your high school principle; they're unlikely to meet the "public figure" criteria that would protect the person who is making fun of them from legal repercussions if anything strayed over the line.

Really? A public-school principal works for the government, in a position of authority, and has broad discretionary power over the students under their charge. They are well-known in their community and frequently act as the public-face of their organization. Certainly, a high-school principal is not as famous as, say, Barrack Obama but it is quite arguable that he is a bona fide public figure for the purposes of satire.

Re:3 months for satire?

[Dahamma]

You can't really "satire" your high school principle; they're unlikely to meet the "public figure" criteria that would protect the person who is making fun of them from legal repercussions if anything strayed over the line.

Of course the principal is a public figure - especially in the "world" of the high school students who were the intended audience of the satire.

Poetic justice?

[Jedi Alec]

True poetic justice would be for these corrupt, callous judges to serve their sentences in the same kind of environment to which they were happy to dispatch juvenile defendants.

Also operated on commercial grounds? Because the very concept of a commercial prison to me seems...something out of a really bad science fiction movie....

Re:Poetic justice?

[Anonymous Coward]

Then check this out: http://www.againstpuryear.org/

Re:Poetic justice?

[drinkypoo]

Also operated on commercial grounds? Because the very concept of a commercial prison to me seems...something out of a really bad science fiction movie....

It seems like something out of a particularly prescient sci-fi novel, to me.

We the People of the United States have allowed our allegedly-elected representatives to reinstitute slavery.

In any case, we already have slavery by proxy in this country, because we import literally tons of goods made with slave labor in China.

If you think we did away with slavery in the USA, think again.

As a related but not identical issue, disenfranchisement of felons means that you don't have to care how many of them you have - they can't vote, so even if you assumed that your vote counts, they would have been prevented from changing the system.

Re:Poetic justice?

[ivan256]

The problem isn't that it was a commercially operated prison. The problem is that the payment structure was set up in such a way as to benefit the operator for an increased number of incarcerations. It shouldn't just be illegal, it should be unconstitutional for any contract or law to provide benefit to one party when another is found guilty of a crime.

Re:Poetic justice?

[Tiger4]

No, something out of the Eisenhower Administration. Yes Ike, the guy that lead the Allied Forces to victory over the Nazis.

Back when he was President, the Office of Management and Budget first cam up with Circular A-76. It describes what is, and is not, an "inherently governmental activity". If it is inherently governmental, then an actual government employee must do it. Things like signing contracts, signing checks or handing out money, formally making arrests, sentencing convicts. But other than those kinds of things, a contractor can be used, since the work is essentially just administrative and not decision making. It is a bit of a slippery scale, and politics jumps in there too, but that is the basis for it.

Usually A-76 is just used to decide if a US government agency should be closed, downsized and contracted out. But the flip side of it is that if an agency wants to expend, they can use it for justifying hiring a contractor to do the extra work. Ever since Reagan this has been the preferred way to do any sort of new work in the US government. The Iraq War took it to new levels, with paid contractors being deployed to do as much work as soldiers, marines, and airmen.

Re:Poetic justice?

[Scrameustache]

The problem isn't that it was a commercially operated prison.

It is the sole duty of the operators of a commercial prison to maximize revenue for the shareholders.

That is at odds with the purpose of the law, which is (theoretically) to uphold justice.

As long as there is money to be made from incarcerating people, you WILL have sentences that will send people to prison who should not be there. Corruption is inevitable when the incentive exists.

Re:Poetic justice?

[Anonymous Codger]

I have a relative serving time in a commercially-run prison. Besides this being a totally repugnant concept to begin with, the way the prison corporation profits off the inmates and their families is unreal. For example, inmate phone calls to family are charged at $16 per half hour. Inmates must buy their personal supplies through a commissary run by the corporation at horribly inflated prices. Luxury items like TVs or guitars, and school supplies must be purchased through a special catalog, again at inflated prices.

You might say, "oh, they're criminals, they deserve to be soaked." But in reality it's the families who are being soaked, even though, in many cases, they are the victims of the inmate's crimes, or are suffering from lack of the inmate's income or parenting or whatever.

It's a completely immoral way to make a buck. The owners and executives of these prison corporations are no better than the inmates they are incarcerating.

Re:Poetic justice?

[level4]

And that will undo everything, will it? All those kids will be A-OK again?

Capital punishment solves nothing, and just feeds the basest desire of humans for revenge.

This is a terrible crime against society, I agree, and the punishment should be banishment. The system we have for that is called prison, and they should be going there for a very long time.

While they're there, society should find a way to make sure that such a thing never happens again.

This is the proper way to do things. Merely calling for the guilty parties' deaths is a simplistic, brutal way to conduct proceedings that should be nothing but a memory of the dark ages.

Re:Poetic justice?

[edbob]

No, but it would act as an actual deterrent to future judges that might get similar ideas. The problem with capital punishment is that it is applied incorrectly to act as a deterrent. If someone thinks that the world would be better off without someone in it, one might think that it would be worth one's own life to rid the world of such a person. I doubt that many people would think that it would be worth risking their own lives to receive a kickback. Public officials need to be held to a higher standard. While I don't normally believe that the death penalty is effective, perhaps it should be used for public officials who abuse their authority.

Re:Poetic justice?

[Abcd1234]

I'd rather have them put down because they're expensive to keep and likely to perform similar crimes in the future.

You should read some statistics. Turns out, between the appeals processes necessary to hopefully ensure you don't accidentally murder an innocent person, and the costs involved in actually killing them, it ends up costing *more* to execute someone than it does to just imprison them for life. And, as an added bonus, there's no take-backsies if it turns out you fucked up somewhere along the line.

Re:Poetic justice?

[Just Some Guy]

Do you feel that's only getting off lightly?

Their failed justice sent undeserving people to PMITA prison and their butts with the Constitution. They abused their authority over the lives of their subjects for nothing but money. In this case, yes, I think prison is a light sentence for them.

Re:Poetic justice?

[rtechie]

Capital punishment solves nothing, and just feeds the basest desire of humans for revenge.

What is the point of prison? This is a philosophical question and the answer to this determines whether or not you think the death penalty is a bad idea.

One view is that prisons are "banishment" as you describe. The purpose of prison is, in theory, to simply separate the criminal from the rest of society with the primary goal of protecting the society from the criminal. No attempt is made to change the criminal in any significant way. This is the European model.

Another view is that prison is punishment. Criminals are intended to suffer while in prison. Society is protected by deterrence, knowing the punishment that faces them criminals will be less likely to offend or re-offend. In such as system corporal punishment, especially execution, is preferred because it has a dramatic impact and it's cheaper.

The American system combines both aspects. Criminals are separated from society for very long periods in jails where they're tortured. We, as a society, have decided this is the way to go.

There are numerous other theories. Prisons were originally designed around the concept of penance. A prisoner would be confined with the Bible and required to take religious instruction. It's assumed the prisoner will eventually repent their sins and adopt a virtuous life whereupon they are released.

Now, if you don't believe that deterrence works on criminals (Either it works or it doesn't, you can't say that "fear of jail" works but "fear of death" doesn't) then you shouldn't support the death penalty because it won't deter criminals.

This is completely separate from questions on the application of the death penalty. Namely that only extremely poor mostly non-white men are executed in the USA. These judges DO NOT meet that criteria, which is why they can't get the death penalty. Even if they committed mass murders on national TV.

What about the kids?

[Anonymous Coward]

So do all the kids still have these marks on their records?

If so then these judges did permanent damage to these individuals. The judges should be charged with much more serious crimes. One count for every person they fucked over. Judges especially need to be held to higher standards, put them in prison for life.

Re:What about the kids?

[eln]

That's not really the point. All of these kids should have their convictions vacated, and the DA's office should determine which of them, if any, they want to re-try.

The records may be sealed, but they still exist, and they can still be accessed in reality. Furthermore, the kids still have the feeling that they've been railroaded by the system. Doing the right thing here could at least give some of them the impression that the system is capable of doing more than unjustly imprisoning them. Carrying around a chip on their shoulder that the system is out to get them will greatly impact their direction in life.

justice business

[gowtah]

That's what you get for setting up a privately-owned for-profit detention system.

worst scum

[Anonymous Coward]

These two scumbags are in my state. And I'm in law school, so they also represent my profession. I've of course been following this story on the local media.

They sent kids to privately owned and operated juvenile detention facilities in exchange for kickbacks. They ruined the lives of children for money.

Hangings too good for 'em.

Might as well paint a target on forehead

[nobodyman]

True poetic justice would be for these corrupt, callous judges to serve their sentences in the same kind of environment to which they were happy to dispatch juvenile defendants.

I dunno, man. I'd imagine that being a former judge in a prison is right up there with being a former prosecutor. I wouldn't be surprised if they have to keep him on 24-hour isolation and/or suicide watch. He deserves much worse, but I suspect this will not be a cakewalk for him either.

Re:Recourse

[FlyingSquidStudios]

She obviously spends a lot of time on MySpace, so she's probably already wasted a lot more than three months anyway.

Only 87 months?

[pluther]

1. PA Child Care should be shut down. If their business model depends on crooked judges, their business model is wrong.

2. Now every single case that ended with juveniles sentenced there should be reviewed. (Looks like they're only looking at the one judge's 5000 cases. They need to look at all of them.) The former judge should be billed for all expenses.

3. Whoever paid the bribes, and whoever authorized them, and whoever knew about this business model and kept quiet, also need to be tried.

4. An appropriate punishment would be a month in jail for every month spent in the facility for every inmate he wrongfully sent there.

5. No profit.

Re:Only 87 months?

[mikesd81]

2. Now every single case that ended with juveniles sentenced there should be reviewed. (Looks like they're only looking at the one judge's 5000 cases. They need to look at all of them.) The former judge should be billed for all expenses.

They are all being reviewed.

3. Whoever paid the bribes, and whoever authorized them, and whoever knew about this business model and kept quiet, also need to be tried.

They are actually the ones that turned them in.

There is actually

[mikesd81]

A class action lawsuit being brought against the judges. Here is a link to the local paper, The Standard Speaker, about the pleas.

The judge has has his pension and pay terminated. I'm from around that area and it's actually big talk. If you search through the Standard Speaker site you'll see some comments from kids that were sent there.

An AC says before if these marks are still on the records for the kids. Well why wouldn't they be? Just because the sentencing was wrong doesn't mean the crime wasn't committed.

Re:There is actually

[JohnFluxx]

> Just because the sentencing was wrong doesn't mean the crime wasn't committed.

You're making the assumption that even though the sentence was wrong, the judgement was not. You're assuming that a 'non-corrupt' judge would have also found them all guilty.

Re:There is actually

[Maximum Prophet]

An AC says before if these marks are still on the records for the kids. Well why wouldn't they be? Just because the sentencing was wrong doesn't mean the crime wasn't committed.

At least in the case of Hillary Transue there was no crime, satire is constitutionally protect free speech. The judge was obviously making up crimes so he could sentence more kids to jail. Every one of the cases this judge had will have to be reviewed and retried, or if that's too expensive, they'll just have to expunge the records of everyone.

Re:There is actually

[Creepy Crawler]

During primaries lasty year, I had 2 votes: One in primaries and on in the jury box. And I consider my jury box vote so much more worthy than a primary vote.

We saw a case where a guy was charged with a DUI. Defendant took stand and said he was going to a Sundance festival which they hold around here. He was stockpiling alcohol for the parties. He parked and started to drink, cause it was too late for pitching the tent. Cop playing rent-a-cop was watching over the festival. He claimed that he saw defendant driving erratic.

Problem:
1. radioed for help to an on-duty cop. aww shucks. no logs
2. main cop said one thing in deposition. said something else in open court. lied.
3. log books not filled out. shucks.
4. timing on cops story didnt work out. there was an hour of unaccounted time. defendant explained what happened and made sense timewise and reasonwise.
5. main cop was just smarmy on stand. there was stuff he was hiding and the defense attorney found it.

Yeah, took us 5 minutes for a not guilty verdict. Took us longer to get the attorneys re-convened. However, considering the opinion in the jury room, we would have tried the cops for perjury. But thats not how our systems works :( Corrupted officials keep their jobs. hurray.

Re:Recourse

[wwwillem]

For her this will be much worse than just three months wasted. I guess she will now have a "criminal record". Which means that the rest of her life she will have problems getting visa's, she will have rather tough job interviews, etc. Because often enough there is the simple question "were you ever.....". And those questions aren't distinguishing between what the conviction was for, and how long ago it happened. Very sad....

Re:Recourse

[mikesd81]

There is a class action lawsuite.

Re:No...

[MoeDrippins]

TRUE poetic justice would see them incarcerated in the juvenile detention facilities themselves, surrounded by the very kids they sent there.

...with the kids reading poetry, preferably of Vogon origin, to them.

Some things should not be run for profit

[NoNeeeed]

There are some things in this world that should never be run by private companies for the purposes of making a profit.

Prisons are one of them. The idea that people can make a profit by locking people up is repugnant. Much in the same way that mercenary forces are generally a bad idea. The last people you want are those that *want* more war because that way they make more money.

The profit incentive is fine in most cases, and generally I'm pro the free market, but there are some things we don't want to be encouraging.

Paul

Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell et al.

[wurble]

I will preface this by saying I don't know what charge they "convicted" the teenager of.

1) Isn't satire completely protected under the first amendment, ESPECIALLY if it is explicitly stated that it is satire? The page she created had a disclaimer on it.

2) The assistant principal is a public figure, and thus, under Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, can't even sue for emotional distress, let alone have someone convicted of a criminal offense.

The sentence needs to be immediately overturned, the record expunged, and the family should have the right to sue at least the judge, if not the state.

Seriously: Execute them

[wytcld]

Judicial corruption should get zero tolerance. For each of the 5000 kids sent to these private prisons for the profit of the judges, the judges should have an equal number of months to the kids' sentences removed from their lives. The punishment must fit the crime. Clearly, for the aggregate theft of life from children, these judges deserve death.

What these judges have done, in terms of total injury to others, is far worse than a single murder. They have also undermined the faith of the public in the justice system. This faith can only be restored by reforms to the justice system so that punishments truly fit the harms caused by the crimes.

Until we have a justice system in which men such as this face a sentence of death, we really don't have justice. Similarly, why is Bernie Madoff still walking around free? Steal $50 from a liquor store, go to jail. Steal $50 billion, and you're treated far better. And what about Dick Cheney? Our system is about punishing the poor and minorities in order to enforce a class system, not about really going after the psychopaths who are pushing our civilization over the edge.

Politically correct name?

[Anonymous Coward]

commercially operated juvenile detention center

A Mall?

Re:They got off easy

[Steauengeglase]

If you were a judge would you heavily sentence another judge? (Not that I know this is the case, there could be maximum sentencing guidelines at work here.)

Re:Satire?

[fosterNutrition]

... should have been disbarred for that ruling ...

Dismembered. The word you are looking for is dismembered.

Anybody remember the First Ammendment?

[Locke2005]

If satire and parody constitute harassment, shouldn't the entire cast and crew of Saturday Night Live be in jail now? Those guys even harass the President!

Note to self: If you're going to make fun of someone on MySpace, do it under an alias. Like "Bill Gates" for instance.

This isn't just "juvi"

[mlwmohawk]

This sort of thing happens all the time. I did a technology contract for "Servo-lift Eastern" who is a big vendor for the prison system.

Privately run prisons are a big business in the U.S.A. Why do you think we imprison more of our population than any other western country? Because the good 'ol boys make money in jailing poor people who can't defend themselves.

Hey, I understand politics. I don't expect human beings to be pillars of integrity, everyone is corrupt on some level. However, if you are willing to knowingly cause material harm to another human being for money, you need to die.