This story is so disgusting about an egregious violation of the trust of the people. A pair of judges and some of their cronies built for-profit detention centers for juveniles, then manipulated the system to have juveniles sent to their jails. They ordered underlings to keep them filled. I was amazed at the rules they flouted to make it all happen, not to mention the 2+ million in kickbacks they enjoyed. In deliberately changing all these children’s lives, they did irreparable damage to most of them.

This book is written in digestible sections but it doesn’t shy away from the truth and the tragedy of these kids’ stories. It kind of read like a serialized podcast in a way.

I appreciate that the author discussed (albeit briefly) how the Kids for Cash scandal affected mostly white children while the criminal justice system overwhelmingly affects people of color the most. I also appreciated how extensively the author discussed her research process and gave credit in other places besides the bibliography.

This is a very hard topic but I love that it was written for younger people since this situation could happen to them.

A timely and compelling story of the "kids for cash" scandal where the judicial system of Lucerne County conspired to throw children into prison for the flimsiest of excuses in order to swindle the state for millions of dollars to house them in abhorrent conditions. Having not seen the documentary, I cannot say how it holds up in terms of depth and scope, but the book lays out a very good picture of the financial shell game the many players conducted in order to hide how they profited from the scheme.

The second chapter, about the history of the coal mines in Lucerne County, could be completely removed though. I know in the author's notes that Cooper really wanted to tie the community's history of ignoring corruption to the one that went on for nearly a decade in the court system, but it immediately killed the pacing of the book to be hooked by the first chapter and off on a barely relevant tangent in the second chapter. At most, it should have been a couple of paragraphs as a footnote to how things worked but instead it felt like the beginnings of a wholly different book.

In true crime books like this, the comprehension of the crime is important but I feel audiences would learn more from the victim impact statements. Cooper said she interviewed some of the child victims and their families, but their stories were scattered throughout the chapters, jumping from the past to present day. I do think this book would be more compelling if they were the through line, the way the first chapter seemed to imply with the conviction of the Carisa, but her story pops up sporadically. Waiting until chapter 17 to get to the details of what happened to many of the kids while incarcerated feels like a particularly heavy ending note. Especially Ryan Lamoreaux's story, which could have been its own book.

Overall this is a well-researched book that should be an easy recommendation for teens interested in true crime. It could have been a phenomenal one with some tighter editing.

What is not part of the review but errors I hope are corrected in the published text:

Chapter 13 has the caption under Elizabeth Habel's letter with "Elizabeth Habel spent nearly two game in her neighborhood resulted in another child's injury" where there may be words missing.
Chapter 15 after the caption with Sandy Fonzo the sentences "shot himself in 2010 at the age of twenty-three Her outcry carried a world of grief..." missing a period.

I just want to cry.

It is just absolutely horrifying to me that corrupt people and systems of corruption are not fought against in every way shape and form. The purely unjust actions of four men completely destroyed so many aspects of the lives of more than 300 children. And all for money.

It’s an issue far greater than many realize or even think about in this country, but I think a lot of us have an inkling of it in some form or another. It’s the very reason “follow the money” is a legitimate investigative tactic to root out the truth of corruption. It needs to be resolved.

The stories behind the corrupt judges, lawyer, and real estate developer that led to the mass imprisonment of literal children whose crimes were pathetically minute is nothing short of tragic. It is a complete miscarriage of justice that at least three of the men behind this plot did not suffer as much as their victims. Even the fourth, though still imprisoned, arguably has not suffered near enough. I’m furious just thinking about it.

It is a positive sign that reform to the juvenile criminal justice system has and is occurring and knowledge of how damaging the system has been is certainly something that needs to spread. Nothing can give these people their lives back and that is just devastating.

This country still has a long way to go, unfortunately, and I am grateful that this book references this fact as it relates to people of color. I would add, however, that if this infuriates and horrifies you, it would be important to follow the money of the most recent attempt at border security.

Ask yourself why that bill included a measure to change the definition of minor to include those we generally would consider new adults. Ask yourself why we are allowing the detainment of migrants to be handled by for-profit companies. Could it be because the government payout of taxpayer dollars to “handle” the border pays more for minors?

What happened to the children who faced the corrupt judge and system at the core of this book was wrong. And while it may be happening less today than it was then (if the numbers are accurate), the for profit prison and detainment system still exists in this country. It’s still happening now. Imprisoning these corrupt monsters didn’t take care of the rest of them.

I couldn't help reading bits of this out to family members I was with and, on more than one occasion, was asked if this was fiction. What the children and their families were subjected to by men who were part of a system that should've protected and supported them, is nothing short of horrific. Not only were hundreds of people were exploited for the financial gain of these few men, they - Ciavarella in particular - seemed to get a perverse sort of joy from torturing their victims. Some children watched their mother collapse as they were taken away and weren't told that she was alive and had only fainted until hours later. Others stood in court only to have the number of months they'd be incarcerated determined by the number of buttons on their shirt or how many birds were on the window ledge.

This book should be read by as many people as possible. It is a perfect example of what can happen when people stay quiet instead of supporting each other to stand up for what's right and how even the most powerful people need to be challenged and held to account for their actions.