"A 'Breakdown" in the State's Oversight

The state court administrator conceded Tuesday that a "breakdown" occurred in the state's oversight of the Luzerne County court system, where former Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. routinely violated juveniles' rights as he and former Judge Michael T. Conahan were allegedly pocketing $2.8 million from backers of for-profit juvenile detention centers.

But, the responsibility for stopping Ciavarella and Conahan also rested with the judges, attorneys and residents who sat quiet and failed to inform state officials about the former judges' alleged conduct, state Court Administrator Zygmont A. Pines told a state panel investigating the kids-for-cash scandal.

"Obviously we were not made aware of the criminal conduct," Pines told the 11-member Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice. "We were not made aware, for whatever reason, of how juvenile cases were being disposed of in Luzerne County. To that extent, there was a breakdown, because obviously you cannot rectify a problem you are not made aware of."

Another state agency, responsible for investigating and prosecuting charges of judicial misconduct, had been aware of Ciavarella and Conahan's alleged abuses as early as September 2006, but failed to take any official action or disclose the allegations to Pines' office.

The agency, the state Judicial Conduct Board, received an anonymous complaint accusing Conahan and Ciavarella of nepotism, cronyism and case-fixing, but kept it secret for nearly two years, until federal prosecutors requested a copy in June or July 2008, board member Edwin L. Klett told the panel.

Board members never saw the complaint until after it was leaked to the media, in September 2008, Klett said.

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Court Administrator, Conduct Board Blame 'Breakdown' of Awareness