A Rutherford County juvenile judge illegally arrested and jailed children. Now two candidates for her seat have to rebuild trust.

For two decades, Judge Donna Scott Davenport oversaw the illegal arrests and detentions of more than a thousand children in her Rutherford County courtroom.

Her actions eventually caught up with her — the county settled a multi-million dollar lawsuit, and an investigation by WPLN News and ProPublica brought to light what had been happening for years, unchecked. Lawmakers called for her ousting, the governor asked for a review and Middle Tennessee State University cut ties with the judge. There were nationwide calls for reform.

More: Black Children Were Jailed for a Crime That Doesn’t Exist. Almost Nothing Happened to the Adults in Charge.

As pressure mounted Davenport announced her retirement as juvenile court judge one afternoon in January, leaving the community to pick a new judge to fill her seat. Early voting starts Friday and runs through July 30, followed by Election Day on Aug. 4.

But it won’t be an ordinary election.

From the outside, her retirement might seem like the end of a painful chapter. Like closure.

Within the community, local pastor Vincent Windrow says it’s far from over.

“Those young children who were victimized, that’s not closure for them,” Windrow says. “Just because she’s off the bench and retired, does that mean that they won’t have nightmares? Does that mean that suddenly, miraculously, they’re going to start trusting in law enforcement again?”

That’s the level of distrust that the candidates to replace her must confront, on top of convincing the community that they have the skills for the job.

How will the candidates change the system?

The challengers are assistant district attorney Travis Lampley and pastor and Legal Aid Society attorney Andrae Crismon.

In a Republican-dominated district, Lampley has the benefit of having the letter ‘R’ next to his name. He’s worked for a decade in juvenile courts.

In a recent WGNS radio forum, he was asked how he would rebuild trust.

“I would like to think that my experience would restore confidence,” he says.

He doesn’t dwell on the controversy. Instead, he shares ideas about other aspects of the job, like shortening the court’s months-long backlog.

“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Lampley says. “So the biggest obstacle is just to get in there, right the ship and plow forward.”

He wants to establish a family preservation court, which would connect people to support systems like substance abuse programs.

Lampley comes at the position from his experience inside the courtroom. Crismon, on the other hand, vows to be out and accessible to the community.

Will DeShazer WPLN News

Judicial candidate Andrae Crismon, middle, talks with voters during the Juneteenth celebration in Murfreesboro.

“I earnestly believe that there’s nothing wrong with Rutherford County that cannot be turned around by what’s right with Rutherford County,” Crismon says during a meet-and-greet at a coffee shop.

He is running as an independent because he says it’s nonpartisan to do the right thing for kids.

And he doesn’t shy away from talking about the last judge. He says Davenport operated behind closed doors. He hopes to turn the position inside out by hosting regular community and school meetings, and educating people about what the role could be.

“We don’t want to be insular,” Crismon says. “We want to be leading the conversation of how to best deliver juvenile care services in the state. And we can do that and we can make that turnaround. But we’ve got to be willing to listen.”

Both candidates are focused on early intervention, but Crismon has proposals to keep kids out of the justice system altogether. For example, he’d like to work with law enforcement to create a list of juvenile offenses that would be handled with citations, instead of arrests.

That resonates with community member Robbie Snapp.

“It’s not always about a child being in trouble and you need to lock them up,” Snapp says. “Everybody doesn’t need to be locked up. Somebody needs to be helped and have a hand up, instead of pushing them down.”

She says Crismon’s history as a legal aid lawyer and a pastor demonstrates his ability to bring compassion to the bench.

Will DeShazer WPLN News

A yard sign supports Rutherford County juvenile judge candidate Travis Lampley.

Making amends

Whoever wins will be stepping into the role with more scrutiny than their predecessor, and more oversight.

One concrete change is that a newly appointed board will take over supervision of the juvenile detention facility. That responsibility was taken away from the judge after what happened.

But a more difficult change will be getting people to believe that the system will treat them fairly, says Dylan Geerts. He was locked up illegally by Davenport when he was 15, denied his medication, and after release tried to kill himself.

“A normal human being forgives when people apologize,” Geerts says. “But I mean, there’s not much to forgive because at the end of the day, she doesn’t even think she did anything wrong.”

Announcing her retirement, Davenport said she was proud of her legacy in the court. She’s declined to be interviewed.

Without her taking responsibility, making amends will fall to the candidate who takes her seat.

But local pastor Vincent Windrow warns that change cannot stop there. The judge needs to be part of reforms to Rutherford County’s criminal justice system — a system that allowed illegal detentions to happen for so long. Otherwise?

“We’re just still the same horse,” he says. “We’re just changing riders.”

WPLN’s Meribah Knight contributed to this report.

Update: This story has been updated to identify that Crismon spoke at a community event and to include the voting dates for this election.