Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Filmmaker Robert May chronicles the case of a once-respected judge who received kickbacks for sending juvenile offenders to prison, even for minor crimes.
Kids for Cash is a documentary exposing the 'kids for cash' judicial scandal in Pennsylvania, where judges received kickbacks for sentencing juveniles to private detention facilities. The subject matter is genuinely shocking and the storytelling is compelling, giving the plot a high mark for its real-world dramatic arc. Cinematography and 'acting' (interview subjects, not performers) are serviceable but unremarkable for a documentary of this type. Novelty earns a mid mark — the subject is distinctive and disturbing, but the documentary format is fairly conventional talking-heads style. The ending provides some closure on the legal outcomes but doesn't offer a particularly transcendent or unusual resolution.