Kids for Ca$h
The Movie
In 2013 as I prepared for the following Spring semester 2014, I searched for a text that I thought would compliment our reading of Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. I was looking for something that revolved around juvenile justice when I stumbled upon another New Press title by William Ecenbarger through an email blast about his book Kids for Cash: Two Judges, Thousands of Children, and a $2.6 Million Kickback Scheme. I felt this text would be fit the focus on history we get from Alexander's text connecting mass incarceration to the roots of slavery and the modern day practice of zero tolerance and an American juvenile justice system in Luzerne County Pennsylvania that fed off the vulnerabilities of American children cycling them into an unnecessary costly detention binge.
Over the course of the semester I had no idea a film would reveal itself based on the Kids for Cash scheme. I finally got the chance to watch Kids for Cash the movie on Netflix and encourage everyone, especially CJ students, justice professionals, educators, policy people, etc. to watch and continue to pass the word on this film, especially the text. It's an informative and detailed account not only of the Luzerne County story, but how it reflects a much bigger problem nationwide when it comes to both adult and juvenile incarceration.
This film puts a face to injustice unlike any documentary film I've ever seen. By the end I wondered who's face sat behind the bench when Kalief Browder was remanded without bail having to endure three years on Riker's Island.
For more information on the film visit kidsforcashthemovie.com
The film is available as DVD and stream from Netflix. You can access Netflix through the app and watch on any mobile device. You can also purchase your own copy through Amazon click here.
