After the Covenant School shooting in 2023, Tennessee lawmakers passed two contradictory laws that were designed to reduce violence and discourage students from making threats.
First came the warning signs. Then a teen opened fire on a Nashville school.
Tennessee authorities were alerted to Solomon Henderson’s threatening and violent behavior long before he brought a gun to Antioch High School. It’s unclear how many red flags were heeded.
How many students have been expelled under Tennessee’s school threats law? There’s no clear answer.
When a mother in Tennessee reached out to ProPublica last year to share that her 10-year-old had been kicked out of school for making a finger gun, she wondered how many other kids had experienced the same thing.
A 13-year-old with autism got arrested after his backpack sparked fear. Only his stuffed bunny was inside.
Disability rights advocates said kids like Ty should not be getting arrested under Tennessee’s school threats law. And they tried to push for a broader exception for kids with other kinds of disabilities. It didn’t work.
A 10-Year-Old Pointed a Finger Gun. The Principal Kicked Him Out of His Tennessee School for a Year.
Over the last couple of years, Tennessee and several other states have been making it easier for schools to suspend or expel students. But study after study has shown that harsh disciplinary practices such as mandatory expulsions are ineffective at reducing violence in schools.
Despite outcry over seclusion at juvenile detention centers, Tennessee lawmakers fail to pass oversight bill
A bill that would strengthen oversight of Tennessee’s juvenile detention centers has failed, despite a concerted push for reform after multiple county-run facilities were found to be locking children alone in cells.
Tennessee lawmakers want more oversight of juvenile detention. The Department of Children’s Services is pushing back.
New legislation would shift enforcement power to an independent agency after a WPLN and ProPublica investigation found that a Knoxville detention center was illegally locking kids alone in cells.
How Many of Your State’s Lawmakers Are Women? If You Live in the Southeast, It Could Be Just 1 in 5
A record number of women were elected to statehouses last year. But in the Southeast, where some legislatures are more than 80% male, representation is lagging as lawmakers pass bills that most impact women, like near-total abortion bans.
How Tennessee’s justice system allows dangerous people to keep guns — with deadly outcomes
Michaela Carter was one of at least 75 people killed in domestic violence shootings in Nashville since 2007. Nearly 40% were shot by people who were legally barred from having a gun.
Doctors warned her pregnancy could kill her. Then Tennessee outlawed abortion.
A Tennessee mother wanted to end her high-risk pregnancy, but doctors feared prosecution.
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