Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, May 20: KIDS FOR CASH
Robert May’s in-depth analysis of a juvenile justice system scandal made its debut last year at DOC NYC. It enjoyed a limited theatrical release this past Winter, and now comes to VOD platforms via FilmBuff.
In 2008, two Pennsylvanian judges, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, known for their tough stances on juvenile crime, were embroiled in what was dubbed the “kids for cash” scandal. Following an FBI investigation, the two men were accused of receiving kickbacks from two for-profit juvenile detention facilities, imposing harsh sentences allegedly to keep a steady flow of new inmates – or at least that’s the way the media reported the circumstances of their misconduct. While initially working out a plea agreement, Ciavarella’s continued denial of wrongdoing in regards to sentencing offenders resulted in a criminal trial for Ciavarella, a revised plea bargain for Conahan, and the reversal of thousands of verdicts made by them in their time on the bench. Using this scandal as a vehicle to explore America’s shameful, profit-driven, and fear-mongering approach to juvenile justice, May’s engaging film profiles several of the individuals and families indelibly affected by their harsh sentencing, enabled by zero tolerance policies instituted post-Columbine, while also gaining the cooperation of both Ciavarella and Conahan so that they can tell their own, more nuanced, but still infuriating version of wrongdoing.
what (not) to doc 