female judge jailed 986 kids in ONE year

[butters]

as young as 7, for crimes that don't exist. Rutherford County, TN

https://imgur.com/gallery/fuef20c

https://www.propublica.org/article/black-children-were-jailed-for-a-crime-that-doesnt-exist

In the fiscal year that encompassed April 2016, Rutherford County jailed 986 children for a total of 7,932 days.

Rutherford County doesn’t just jail its own kids. It also contracts with other counties to detain their children, charging $175 a day. “If we have empty beds, we will fill them with a paying customer,"

"It’s not a job. It’s God’s mission,” she told a local newspaper."

Rutherford County established the position of elected juvenile court judge in 2000, and ever since, Donna Scott Davenport has been the job’s only holder. She sometimes calls herself the “mother of the county.”

Davenport runs the juvenile justice system, appointing magistrates, setting rules and presiding over cases that include everything from children accused of breaking the law to parents accused of neglecting their children. While the county’s mayor, sheriff and commissioners have turned over, she has stayed on, becoming a looming figure for thousands of families. “She’s been the judge ever since I was a kid,” said one mother whose own kids have cycled through Davenport’s courtroom. One man, now in his late 20s, said that when he was a kid in trouble, he would pray for a magistrate instead of Davenport: “If she’s having a bad day, most definitely, you’re going to have a bad day.”

While juvenile court is mostly private, Davenport keeps a highly public profile. For the past 10 years she’s had a monthly radio segment on WGNS, a local station where she talks about her work.

She sees a breakdown in morals. Children lack respect: “It’s worse now than I’ve ever seen it,” she said in 2012. Parents don’t parent: “It’s just the worst I’ve ever seen,” she said in 2017. On WGNS, Davenport reminisces with the show’s host about a time when families ate dinner together and parents always knew where their children were and what friends they were with because kids called home from a landline, not some could-be-anywhere cellphone. Video games, the internet, social media — it’s all poison for children, the judge says.

Davenport describes her work as a calling. “I’m here on a mission. It’s not a job. It’s God’s mission,” she told a local newspaper. The children in her courtroom aren’t hers, but she calls them hers. “I’m seeing a lot of aggression in my 9- and 10-year-olds,” she says in one radio segment.

There’s no jury in juvenile court, so Davenport decides the facts as well as the law. “And that is why I should get 12 times the pay,” she likes to joke.

 

[butters]

no surprises at all that her work history claims, made under oath, are not the same as actual records; she'd taken it upon herself to sound far more involved with police and the d.o.j than the reality. Took her 5 attempts to pass the bar.

 

[jomar]

Big fish, little pond. She’ll crash and burn as her zeal grows.

 

[mayfly13]

The equivalent of children criminalizing in the UK,
is how mothers are being pathologized & deprived of rights in the UK, Australia, NZ and Canada

Because of several notorious tragic cases of abused or neglected children
that led to social workers being vilified
social workers are nowadays covering their backs & taking kids away from their parents at the drop of a hat.
Instead of putting home help in place.

 

[butters]

judge resigning after legislators push for her to be removed from position

https://www.insider.com/tennessee-j...rested-and-jailed-children-is-retiring-2022-1

the county already settled a mass class-action suit against Rutherford County to the tune of $11M, but her jumping before she can be pushed means she's walking scott-free, with no punishment for her wrongdoings. Does this also mean she gets to keep any additional benefits attached to the position she held for 22 years? I don't know. Her statement, though, is the worst slap in the face to all those children whose lives she damaged with her 'Always arrest' policy:

"After prayerful thought and talking with my family, I have decided not to run for re-election after serving more than twenty-two years on the bench," Davenport said in a statement. Her office did not respond to requests for comment.

"I will always look back at my time as Judge as one of the greatest honors of my life, and I am so proud of what this Court has accomplished in the last two decades and how it has positively affected the lives of young people and families in Rutherford County," she said. "I wish my successor the best and hope that this job provides them the same fulfillment it has provided me over the years."

 

[pecksniff]

as young as 7, for crimes that don't exist. Rutherford County, TN

https://imgur.com/gallery/fuef20c

https://www.propublica.org/article/black-children-were-jailed-for-a-crime-that-doesnt-exist

The headline says "black kids." Is there any evidence that made a difference, stastically?

 

[butters]

The headline says "black kids." Is there any evidence that made a difference, statistically?

the headline refers directly to the case first discussed in a school where 2/3 of the children are Black or Latino. The 4 children initially arrested were all Black, young girls, of the 10 on the officers' list... to be arrested for not breaking up a scuffle between 3 other small boys. I don't know the breakdown of the other children and if that is a reflection of the kids targeted throughout the county and beyond I don't know if it's a reflection on her own racial thinking. Seems to me she sees it her god-imposed duty to punish small children who don't behave like stepford kids, regardless of skin-colour.

Her imposed system of arrest and detention, even when no actual crime had been committed, no doubt impacted children of all skin tones. I see no data confirming ethnicity on the children jailed over the years. This could be a result of the county a) not maintaining that data, or b) not providing that data

The most important takeaway from the extensive article is her ambition to arrest and jail so many juveniles, frequently for non-crimes, and have her appointed 'jailor' at the detention centre making the decision as to whether or not these children 'appeared a threat'. A kid skips school for a day? Arrested. Curse at someone? Arrested. Need meds inside for a bi-polar condition? Tough titty.

 

[Rightguide]

Did they break the law?

 

[ll74]

Did they break the law?

The answer is the same as the one that goes "did you read the article?"

 

[Rightguide]

The answer is the same as the one that goes "did you read the article?"

Yes. I read the following, "children accused of breaking the law to parents accused of neglecting their children." I asked a simple question designed to suggest how these kids might have wound up in jail, an answer in the negative might provoke a series of other questions as to the legitimacy of the court.

 

[colddiesel]

Did they break the law?

No they did not. Very easy to establish.

The Police excuse that they were "following orders" will likely cost their employers big time too.

 

[butters]

Yes. I read the following, "children accused of breaking the law to parents accused of neglecting their children." I asked a simple question designed to suggest how these kids might have wound up in jail, an answer in the negative might provoke a series of other questions as to the legitimacy of the court.

the article specifically states that many of the arrested and jailed children did NOT commit crimes, and the county's arrest/detain rate was 45% compared the TN average of 5%

somewhere in there it determines around 1,700 (i believe, though not going back now to check as you can find it yourself should be be arsed) children detained illegally, which cost Rutherford County $11M in a class-action lawsuit, a lot of that money put aside for the psychological treatment of the victims. That's taxpayers' money. Taxpayers paying out the nose for her 'system'. $11M that could have been used to improve healthcare facilities, pay more staff, anything other than have to pay for damage to children she is directly responsible for but they allowed her to get away with.

 

[Rightguide]

the article specifically states that many of the arrested and jailed children did NOT commit crimes, and the county's arrest/detain rate was 45% compared the TN average of 5%

somewhere in there it determines around 1,700 (i believe, though not going back now to check as you can find it yourself should be be arsed) children detained illegally, which cost Rutherford County $11M in a class-action lawsuit, a lot of that money put aside for the psychological treatment of the victims. That's taxpayers' money. Taxpayers paying out the nose for her 'system'. $11M that could have been used to improve healthcare facilities, pay more staff, anything other than have to pay for damage to children she is directly responsible for but they allowed her to get away with.

So what is it that compels parents to show up in that court with their children if no laws are broken, and why isn't the court, therefore, sued out of existence for malicious prosecutions under color of law? Do law enforcement officials arrest the subjects, or hand the parents a warrant for arrest or a summons to appear in court, and if so, on what legal authority. Seems to be a lot missing here.

 

[butters]

So what is it that compels parents to show up in that court with their children if no laws are broken, and why isn't the court, therefore, sued out of existence for malicious prosecutions under color of law? Do law enforcement officials arrest the subjects, or hand the parents a warrant for arrest or a summons to appear in court, and if so, on what legal authority. Seems to be a lot missing here.

the answers are in the article. if you can't be bothered to read it, there's no point in discussing this.

 

[Rightguide]

the answers are in the article. if you can't be bothered to read it, there's no point in discussing this.

You just want everyone to believe that 986 kids were unlawfully sent to jail for no reason and without consequence or recourse. I find that hard to believe, but do bug out for the hills, we're used to it.

 

[Rightguide]

The Constitutional and civil rights of children are protected under federal law by the Department of Justice civil rights division. Be a good citizen and file a complaint with them on the basis of the facts of this story as you understand them. Let us know how that went.

 

[ishtat]

Tennessee has no minimum age for children to be charged as criminals. Such luminaries as Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran do.

With regard to RG's reference to Federal Law he knows perfectly well that these children were detained under misapplied State law.

 

[pecksniff]

Frankly, I'm tempted to consider the position that all kids should be raised in jail. And so would be many parents.

 

[Rightguide]

Tennessee has no minimum age for children to be charged as criminals. Such luminaries as Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran do.

With regard to RG's reference to Federal Law he knows perfectly well that these children were detained under misapplied State law.

So why aren't those parents suing the crap out of that jurisdiction? I have no direct knowledge of any of these individuals' legal situations. Why wouldn't a prosecution resulting from "misapplied law" be a malicious prosecution? Such a suit against malicious prosecution would be a tort action in civil court which would require the plaintiff to prove the following against the defendant,

"(1) that the original case was terminated in favor of the plaintiff, (2) that the defendant played an active role in the original case, (3) that the defendant did not have probable cause or reasonable grounds to support the original case, and (4) that the defendant initiated or continued the initial case with an improper purpose. Each of these elements presents a challenge to the plaintiff." (in this case the judge or prosecutor).