A juvenile detention center in Rutherford County, Tennessee, that for years illegally jailed children will now be overseen by a five-member board rather than the county’s juvenile court judge, a change designed to bring greater accountability to a long-troubled system.
New documents prove Rutherford County disproportionately jails black children, and it’s getting worse
Rutherford County has been jailing Black children at a disproportionately high rate, according to newly obtained data. And, in a departure from national trends, the county’s racial disparity is getting worse, not better.
Members of Congress are asking for an investigation into Rutherford County’s juvenile court following WPLN’s report
Government officials called Rutherford County’s juvenile justice system a “nightmare” that “boggles the mind.” They are demanding answers about why children were “unjustly searched, detained, charged, and imprisoned.”
Rutherford County’s juvenile court judge is no longer an adjunct instructor at MTSU
Judge Donna Scott Davenport, who oversees Rutherford County’s juvenile court system, will no longer teach at Middle Tennessee State University, according to an email sent to faculty and staff Tuesday evening.
Black Children Were Jailed for a Crime That Doesn’t Exist. Almost Nothing Happened to the Adults in Charge.
Judge Donna Scott Davenport oversees a juvenile justice system in Rutherford County, Tennessee, with a staggering history of jailing children. She said kids must face consequences, which rarely seem to apply to her or the other adults in charge.
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