Two Pennsylvania judges have agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of taking $2.6 million in kickbacks for sending juvenile offenders to private detention centers, the Associated Press is reporting. Judges Mark Ciavarella and Mark Conahan took bribes from private companies for sending children to juvenile detention facilities from 2003-2007, prosecutors say.

The Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia filed a petition last year with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court alleging that the Luzerne County courts were denying juvenile defendants attorneys at ten times the state rate. "When more than half of all youth appear in court without legal representation and are routinely taken from their homes and placed in residential treatment for minor offenses, something is seriously wrong and it must be stopped," the Center argued.

Now it appears Luzerne County's treatment of kids was a cash deal for at least two judges. "They sold their oaths of offices to the highest bidders," says Deron Roberts of the FBI.

The AP says that the judges were paid off by PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care LLC, though no charges have been filed against the companies.

The Juvenile Law Center is still fighting to reopen the cases of hundreds of juveniles who were denied representation in court. You can read more about that here .

In an editorial today, the Scranton Times-Tribune says, "There is the bigger issue — the broad culture of corruption that emboldened two judges to believe that they could get away with this abomination."

We would add another "bigger issue": Is the outcome any worse for juvenile offenders and young child abuse victims when they are denied attorneys in court because the State wants to save money and appoint volunteers instead?