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Shut it Down!!!

Several weeks ago I wrote a post about the Luzerne County Courthouse, which I consider the most dangerous court in America. My feelings at the time were summed up in one phrase: Shut it Down.

In the weeks since I posted that my feelings haven't changed, despite what I consider to be the honorable efforts of current President Judge Chester Muroski to clean house. I am heartened that Judge Muroski began immediately taking steps to restore public confidence in the Luzerne County Courts. And, so, a tip of the hat to Judge Muroski.

With literally each passing day, however, the story gets worse. It is evident that corruption spread like an insidious cancer, a web of deceit that hopelessly entangled anyone it touched. Recent stories in two local papers paint a clear and unpleasant picture:

In Juvenile Court, Justice was Silent (The Citizens Voice)

Newspaper's Lawyers Allege Reputed Mobster Linked to One or Both of Disgraced Judges. (The Times Leader)

Probation Department Official is Charged with Altering Information in Juvenile's File. (The Times Leader)

Judge Cases Spilling into Adult Court (The Times Leader)

These stories ran over just the past week. There is the unsettling feeling that there is more yet to come.

In today's Citizens Voice a piece titled Their Stories appeared. The story focuses on 11 young people and how the Luzerne County Juvenile Courts dealt with them. Many of these young people were troubled and needed some type of intervention, but perhaps not the one they received: incarceration. Others, who lashed out at parents with pillows or by throwing sandals, may have needed little more than counseling. One young man claims he took a stolen gun away from a younger boy and gave it to his employer. He says he was "trying to do the right thing." Three months later, he was charged with a felony and sent off to serve three months in a facility in Butler County.

I mention the Citizens Voice piece in some detail because while the corruption of our local courts continues to unwind and broaden in scope, at the heart of it all are young people who may have been deprived of their rights and incarcerated for reasons that have nothing whatsoever to do with the administration of justice.

I mention it also to remind all of us that if it could happen to them…it could happen to us.

And so, still, I say Shut it Down. Let other courts in the state hear our cases while investigations continue. Shut it Down until every stone is unturned and every employee of the courts, every judge, every attorney, has been given a clean stamp of approval by an impartial third party.

Then, on the ashes of the old court, let a new court rise. Let it serve real justice for the citizens of Luzerne County. Let it become a model for other courts across our nation, and no longer a sad spectacle, an object of ridicule, and a symbol of failed justice.