HARRISBURG (AP) — The state's victim advocate says a special panel should remember thousands of what she called "original victims" allegedly harmed by juveniles whose cases were tossed out as a result of a northeastern Pennsylvania criminal justice scandal.
Carol Lavery told the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice on Monday that she has gotten letters from people who say they lost family heirlooms to burglaries or have children who were assaulted. They say they now have no record of ever having taken their cases to court.
Former Luzerne County judges Mark Ciavarella Jr. and Michael Conahan are awaiting trial on charges of taking $2.8 million in kickbacks to place youth offenders in for-profit detention facilities. The state Supreme Court last fall vacated the convictions of juvenile defendants in some 6,500 cases.
