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.
by Meribah Knight, Nashville Public Radio, and Ken Armstrong, ProPublica Oct. 8, 5 a.m. EDT
What happened on that Friday and in the days after, when police rounded up even more kids, would expose an ugly and unsettling culture in Rutherford County, one spanning decades. In the wake of these mass arrests, lawyers would see inside a secretive legal system that’s supposed to protect kids, but in this county did the opposite. Officials flouted the law by wrongfully arresting and jailing children. One of their worst practices was stopped following the events at Hobgood, but the conditions that allowed the lawlessness remain. The adults in charge failed. Yet they’re still in charge. Tennessee’s systems for protecting children failed. Yet they haven’t been fixed. Read this horrific story HERE.
Rutherford County has a history of racist behavior toward its black residents.
August 31, 1869 NY Times
Lawless Proceedings in Rutherford County—Negroes Driven from their Homes—Proclamation by Governor Senter.NASHVILLE, Aug. 30.—Nearly 100 Negroes have come to this place from the neighborhood of Rutherford County, and report that they have been driven away from their homes by lawless white men. These negroes have been working on shares with the planters, and they, as well as planters, will lose heavily if they are not protected in securing the crop.