If you’ve got true crime lovers, Cooper’s nonfiction deep dive into the Kids for Cash scandal in Pennsylvania in the early 2000s will make a great addition to your classroom library.

Cooper introduces readers to Judge Mark Ciavarella, known for handing out excessively harsh sentences for juvenile offenders in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Numerous children and teenagers brought before his bench were sentenced to years in juvenile detention facilities for crimes as minor as using a Sharpie to vandalize a street sign. His sentences were arbitrary: one girl was directed to count the buttons on her shirt and sentenced to prison for that number of years.

Behind Ciavarella’s harsh sentences is an even greater injustice. He and fellow judge Michael Conahan went into business with two other men, essentially becoming investors in the juvenile detention center where they were sentencing all these children. Of course, the fuller the detention center was, the more money the men made.

Cooper details the injustices committed in the courtroom and behind the scenes and the long-term impact these harsh sentences had on the children and their families. It’s hard not to feel angry at the injustices that were allowed to happen, and the focus on juvenile justice will appeal to many students.

Thank you NetGalley, Astra Publishing House, and Calkins Creek for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are our own.

This review will be posted at https://threeheads.works/category/blog/ya-books/ on June 17, 2024.

I'd heard about this case and was interested to learn about the specifics in more detail. As I read, though, I questioned the marketing of this to a teen audience. While I'm all for teaching teens about their rights and the abuses of the justice system, I'm not sure that this book arms them with practical knowledge. It may only be a cause for fear.

A very harrowing read about a scandal whose reverberations will be felt for decades to come. We can only guess at how many lives were directly or indirectly destroyed by these judges’ greed. It’s good that they aren’t going to be ruling on any cases anymore, but the book makes you wonder if they aren’t just the symptom of a deep-rooted problem in the juvenile justice system.

Shackled: A Tale of Wronged Kids, Rogue Judges, and a Town that Looked Away is a nonfiction, young adult, true crime novel about a pair of crooked judges and their cohorts who were working in the Luzerne County, Pennsylvania juvenile justice system in the early 2000s. The judges imposed harsh penalties on children and teens that were way out of line with the crimes they were charged with. They were responsible for building a for-profit detention system which they richly benefited from and the expense of many children. The children paid a high price for the judges' benefit. Many of them suffer from mental and physical disabilities well into adulthood.

While young adults are the target audience for this book, I think it moves too slowly to keep many readers that age interested. I'm in my 40s and found it to be very slow-moving. It is well-researched and would make an excellent source for a research project, I think it might be a little too in-depth to hold the interest of the average teen reader.

Astra Publishing House, Calkins Creek, and NetGalley for a review copy of Shackled.

I knew about the Kids for Cash scandal and had watched the documentary prior to reading this book, however, I was surprised when I found myself getting angry all over again at how easy it was for these judges to take away kids' freedoms just to profit from this situation. This book gives us some of the kid's perspectives and it adds a different dynamic when you are hearing about something directly from the people involved.

I want to thank #netgalley and @astrapublishinghouse for this ARC.

I think stories such as these are so important to tell because when you hear about these cases on the news, you only hear them from the newscaster's perspective and perhaps do not believe it could happen to you and your family. Unfortunately, as these kids and their families learned, it can. The details in this text prove that Candy Cooper spent a great amount of time researching this topic.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about the abuses that have been encountered in the judicial system.

When you read a fiction book, you get to remind yourself that the events aren't true. Unfortunately that isn't the case for Shackled. Reading what happened to the children and families of Pennsylvania during this time was difficult to say the least. I have already ordered this book for our high school library.

The cover of Shackled is dark and foreboding as is this book.

This non-fiction book explores the "Kids for Cash" scandal that occurred in Pennsylvania in the early 2000’s. Read commentary from plaintiffs who were shackled and locked away by Judge Mark Ciavarella of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Youth as young as ten years old, children shackled and were sent to brutal wilderness camps or detention centers with huge sentences as punishments for menial crimes. The punishments did not fit the crimes.

Over 6,000 youth and their families suffered from a cruel judge who swindled money from the system with his methods of forcing youths into detention centers for long periods of time. Many of these youths, now in their 20's or 30's, suffer severe negative impact on their mental health from the time spent in detention directly due to Ciavarella. These true accounts will certainly anger and upset you as you read!

There are photos of the courthouse and some of the youth who were locked away for crimes, really no more than pranks. Their families were forced to pay heavy, unfair sums for their children's detainment. This judge and his cruel accomplices made millions of dollars, unnoticed, for nearly two decades, before finally, a case was made against them.

This is the horrific and almost unbelievable story of children who were filtered through the juvenile (in)justice system by corrupt judges for petty crimes.

I found it a tough read about children, now adults, who are still suffering from their experiences in a for-profit juvenile detection center.

Candy J. Cooper penned this short account of hard facts in a well written manner. I’d recommend this for the young adult audience due to the disturbing nature of the subject.

4.5 star rounded up.

Well-done, well-researched, well-written look at the Cash for Kids scandal out of Pennsylvania, Shackled looks at the case over a decade later to explore how it ever could have happened in the first place and the results.

This is a very approachable book, for non-fiction, and covers a variety of angles around the case. At first, I was a little unsure where the author was going with the coal mining history, and I still think the connection is a little tenuous. The mob history, however, was obviously very relevant. I particularly appreciated the chapters on how the kids were treated within the detention centers and the long-term impacts on them, though I would have preferred that to be expanded on and earlier in the narrative. I appreciate the deep dive into the financial web and found it easy to follow. I loved the inclusion of some more restorative justice models as a comparison as well.

Overall, a great read for anyone interested in the ways in which the justice system can fail those it should be serving.

I recieved a review copy of this book at no charge from the publisher but all opinions are my own.

This is a devastating read and one I recommend to all - it is short and it will shock you. I had not really heard of this case (though I am pretty sure there is a Law & Order SVU episode about it that I have obviously seen). The details really took my breath away and shook me to my core. It is not so much that people would do the things these judges and their co-conspirators did as much as them being allowed to continue for so long and create so much hurt and damage to so many people in their community. I take some solace in the survivors getting to share their stories and in the youth courts that are starting to change the way kids are dealt with in the legal system. This book will haunt me for a while!

So the blurb of shackled says —In the early 2000s, Judge Mark Ciavarella and Judge Michael Conahan of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania were known as no-nonsense judges. Juveniles who showed up in their courtrooms faced harsh words and even harsher sentencing. In the post-Columbine era, many people believed that was just what the county needed to ensure its children and teens stayed on the straight and narrow path.

And I thought okay so there are people who think that punishment is right path for few kids, although I'm not of the same thinking but I thought I guess I can understand. But as I went deeper into the book and the shocking facts came into the light one after the other like blows, it left me breathless and claustrophobic.

Did this really happen, I kept asking myself. Making money on juvenile justice? By putting kids into jail for the most benign crimes, or even crimes would be a wrong word coz they were not really crimes to be honest. This was a total shocker. And it took this many years to smoke it out and bring it into the light, wow. Can't really believe it.

I'm left speechless by this whole book. These two judges changed so many lives. Not just 2500+ kids but the people around them. Can't even imagine how their parents must have felt. It is proven again and again that kids need support not punishment for their wrongdoings but this "kids for cash" corruption went on for years and nobody bat an eye. If we as adults can't look after our kids then who will?

Overall I liked reading about it but this book deals with some pretty dark and disturbing stuff. I just feel that it is written more like a non fiction book than a book with all the emotional turmoil which supposed to find its way with sufferings of these kids and their parents. I guess it will be okay for those who like reading it that way but I'm not habitual to fiction and I would have liked it that way.

It is pretty obvious the research and effort put by the author into this book. It's no wonder that author is a Pulitzer prize finalist.

Thank you Netgalley and Astra publishing House for ARC in exchange of an honest review.

3.5 stars

In the book Shackled by Candy J Cooper she investigated yet another reason why prisons whether juvenile or not shouldn’t be privatized. As soon as there is money to be made some will hurt their own mother to get to it and then the case of these two judges in Pennsylvania and the kids for cash scandal we learned that there are juveniles who get more time for vandalism than adult pedophiles do. It’s just a small consolation the consequences the judge is faced this was a great book and an awesome investigation by a very established in intelligent journalist and one I highly recommend. Please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review I want to thank the author the publisher Net Galley for my free arc copy.

Thank you to NetGalley, Astra Publishing House, Calkins Creek, and Candy J. Cooper for the opportunity to read Shackled in exchange for an honest review.

This non-fiction book explores the "Kids for Cash" scandal of Pennsylvania in a coherent and streamlined way. It offers commentary from plaintiffs who were shackled and locked away by Judge Mark Ciavarella of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Youth as young as ten years old, sent to wilderness camps or detention centers with obscene serving times as punishments for extremely menial crimes. The punishment does not fit the crimes in these early 2000's cases.

Over 6,000 youth and their families have suffered from a cruel judge who swindles money from the system with his methods of forcing youths into detention centers for long periods of time. Many of these youths, now in their 20's or 30's today, have had negative impact on their mental health from the experiences caused by Ciavarella.

This book offers some photos of the courthouse and some of the youth who were locked away for menial crimes, their famies having to pay heavy sums for their children's detainment. This novel explores some of the history of the county and its hidden crimes, and explores how history repeats itself. This judge and his other accomplices made millions of dollars, unnoticed, for nearly two decades, before finally, a case was made against them.

This book is an excellent non-fiction work that can be paired with a lot of the Juvenile Justice novels and curriculum that is making its way into schools today. As an English teacher myself, there are plenty of chapters that offer some interesting topics for debate or Socratic Seminar. Youth are interested in this topic because of how involved Juvenile Justice has become as a part of the on-going civil rights movement. Teenagers should be tried fairly for whatever their crime, and the teenagers in school today have a lot to say about this topic. This book makes for an excellent pairing with other curriculum in the classroom.

I loved this cover it is what drew me in to begin with and why i wanted to read it.

I loved the story and loved the eye opener into the criminal justice system and how it treat children. The format was good, the writing was good and i loved how it went into detail to share the stories.

Would recommend the author and the writing.

Thanks NetGalley for letting me read and review.

Sometimes true stories are too unbelievable to be believed. This story is one of those. How does a local justice system get away with locking up kids and teens in juvenile detention centers at ALARMINGLY high rates? It happened...and perhaps happens still, as this journalistic look at the events happened in the early 2000s. That's not that long ago!

Nonfiction is not my preferred reading genre and this book's narrative style lends itself to being more fiction-reader friendly. There were A LOT of names and A LOT of dates throughout the text; I should have taken notes to more fully understand the complexity, but I did enjoy the book overall....even though the fact that it's real makes me want to vomit.

I recommend this book for those interested in justice systems; definitely a read for older readers.

I loved reading this book. It truly opened my eyes to how the criminal justice system treats kids. I truly loved the format of this book, and how it went into detail on each kids case and situation.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
I hadn't heard of this case before but wow, what horrible corruption! This is a well researched book that tells the story of how these people who were supposed to care for kids, sent them into the system for their own huge financial gain. The coal mines part was a bit unnecessary but I do understand why it was included to make a point.
I love the concept of the youth courts with their peers.

I really appreciate everything Shackled is doing. The "Kids for Cash" story is horrific and this book tells it in a clear and empathetic way.

"Shackled" is a moving and powerful book that shines a light on an issue that I, and I believe many, had no idea even existed.

This book focuses on the juvenile system in Luzerne County, in which one corrupt judge devised a scheme to profit off the imprisonment of children. This resulted in hundreds of youths being wrongfully imprisoned and suffering inhumane treatment. It tells the stories of the men behind this who were lining their pockets, and it tells the stories of the children whose lives they ruined and childhoods they robbed.

I loved this book because it was so interesting, yet it never ceased to horrify me. It's hard to believe that all the events described were true stories. Reading the stories of the children in the courtroom was chilling because they felt so small and powerless with the entire justice system against them. And even more heartbreaking were the pleas of parents whose children were taken from them.

We get updates on some of the children's lives years after their incarceration, many of them having been hindered because of it. Overall, the book provided a lot of insight into this issue and its effects on the affected children and families.

Thankfully, we see justice play out somewhat, after decades, as a few years ago, this case was reopened and the men behind it investigated and finally held accountable for their actions.

The only issue I had with this book is that I felt it was a little scattered at times. The story seemed to jump back and forth between past and present with no clear chronology. I think the author intended to group sections of the story by the theme he wanted to focus on, while peppering anecdotes throughout, but this got slightly confusing. Besides that, it was truly a wonderful read

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Final rating: 4/5

This was a great book about the Kids for Cash in Pennsylvania.
It gave you the facts about not just the people involved in the crime but the victims as well. I think that was my favorite part of this book, hearing from the victims and how it effected their lives years later.

This is one of the most heartbreaking and disturbing books I have ever read. It demonstrates what I've thought for a long time: if there is no logical reason why a bureaucrat/public figure is behaving in a certain way, there is likely something very off with that person. I watched the Kids for Cash documentary and this builds upon what was covered there. Well written--highly recommend.