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Tennessee County Disproportionately Jails Black Children, and It’s Not Getting Better

Loaded on May 1, 2022 by Jacob Barrett published in Criminal Legal News May, 2022, page 14
Filed under: Racial Profiling, Juvenile Offenses/Offenders. Location: Tennessee.

by Jacob Barrett

Tennessee’s Rutherford County hasbeenunderscrutinyafteritwaswidelycriticizedforitsdysfunctional juvenilejusticesystem.TheCountyhasbeenincarceratingBlackchildrenatadisproportionatelyhighrate, accordingtodataobtainedbyProPublicaandNashvillePublicRadio(“NPR”).Themostrecentdatarevealthat theCounty’sincarcerationofBlackyouthisanextremedeparturefromnationaltrendsandtheCounty’sracial disparityisgettingworse,notbetter.

ProPublica and NPR documented how Rutherford County charged 11 Black children for a crime that did not exist. Four of the children were confined in the County’s juvenile jail.

Followingthepublicationofthestorybythetwonewsorganizations,theyreceivedadditionalreportsfromthe TennesseeCommissiononChildrenandYouththatexposedwhiletheCountywaslockingupsomanykids illegally,itwasalsoincarceratingadisproportionately  highpercentageofBlackchildren.

RutherfordCountybooked childrenintoitsjuvenilejailatleast6,350timesbetweenJuly2010andJune2021, accordingtotheyouthcommissionsmonitoringreports.Thirty-eightpercentofthosewereBlackchildren.That percentageistroublinginlightofthefactBlackchildrenonlymakeup onlyabout16%ofchildreninthe County.

RutherfordCounty’sracial populationdisparityiscomparabletothegapfortheU.S.asawhole.TheSentencingProject publishedafactsheet thatshowedin2019eventhoughBlackchildrenmakeuponly15%ofthenation’s youth,41%ofthechildrenincarceratednationallywereBlack.

The commission’s reports also expose the County as an outlier compared to what’s been happening in recent years regarding racial disparities in juvenile justice in general. While in most of the rest of the country the racial disparity has been decreasing, Rutherford County has been going in the opposite direction.

SandraSimkins,alawprofessoratRutgersUniversity andnationalexperton juvenilejustice,saidthatwhilesomestateshavetakenstepstoreduceracialdisparities,Tennesseehas“blockedeveryavenuetoreform.”

“Ithink Tennesseetoleratesbadactors,”Simkinssaid.“ItisagreatertolerancethanwhatIhaveeverseen.I havebeenacrossthecountry.I’veseenalotofbadpockets.”

Thatisparticularlyevidentinthefact thatafterProPublicaandNPRexposedRutherfordCounty’sdysfunctional juvenilejustice  systemandstatelawmakerscalledthesystema“nightmare”and“uncheckedbarbarism”nota singleeffortwasmadeforlegislationthatcouldreversethestate’strendof dysfunction.

There may be some light at the end of the tunnel in RutherfordCounty.JudgeDonnaScottDavenportwhowasa guidingforcein theillegalincarcerationofyouthinRutherfordCountyforyearsmaybeleavingoffice.

Davenporthasoverseenthejuvenilejustice systemafterwinningelectionin2000.Sheisupforreelectionin 2022.Forthefirsttimein  20years,shewillbefacingachallengerifsherunsagain.

TotopoffRutherfordCounty’sabysmalrecordof juvenile injustice,itrecentlyagreedtosettleaclass-actionlawsuitallegingthatithadillegallyarrested andjailedchildrenforyearsfornearly$6million,withhundredsof childrenreceivingpayouts. 

 

Source:ProPublica.com,NashvillePublicRadio

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More from this issue:

  1. The Pseudoscientific Practice of Blood Spatter Analysis How the Desire for Convictions Drives Flawed Prosecutions, by Anthony Accurso
  2. Tennessee County Disproportionately Jails Black Children, and It’s Not Getting Better, by Jacob Barrett
  3. Digital Tyranny: Beware of the Government’s Push for a Digital Currency, by Nisha Whitehead, John W. Whitehead
  4. California Court of Appeal: Fifth Amendment Violation Where Police Use Two-Step Interrogation in Deliberate Strategy to Circumvent Miranda, by Richard Resch
  5. Seventh Circuit: Four-Year Delay in Filing Appeal Excused Habeas Exhaustion Requirement Because Any Further Attempts for Postconviction Remedies in State Court Would Have Been Futile, by Dale Chappell
  6. Ninth Circuit: IAC for Failure to Engage Mental Health Expert and Testing, State PCR Court’s Decision Contrary to Federal Law and Defective Factfinding, Habeas Relief Granted, by Dale Chappell
  7. Hawaii Supreme Court: Due Process Violation to Exclude Evidence of Victim’s BAC in Assault Case in Which Defendant Claims Self-Defense, by Matthew Clarke
  8. Sixth Circuit: Courts May Consider Nonretroactive Change in Law as One of Several Factors for Extraordinary and Compelling Circumstances for Compassionate Release, by Matthew Clarke
  9. Maryland Court of Appeals Announces Accepting Empaneled Jury Doesn’t Waive Prior Objection to Trial Court’s Refusal to Propound a Voir Dire Question, by Douglas Ankney
  10. United States Has Four Percent of the Global Population and Over Thirteen Percent of Global Deaths at the Hands of Law Enforcement, by Casey Bastian
  11. I, Robot, Am The LAW!, by J.D. Schmidt
  12. Thanks to Homeowner’s Private Security Camera Catching Cops’ Blatant Misconduct, He’s a Free Man, by Douglas Ankney
  13. SCOTUS Rejects Government’s Interpretation of the ACCA’s ‘Occasions Clause’ That Would Make It Possible to Become ‘a Career Criminal in the Space of a Minute’, by Richard Resch
  14. Kentucky Supreme Court: Officer’s History of Arresting Defendant on Multiple Occasions Constituted ‘Show of Authority’ That Defendant Was Not Free to Leave, Resulting in Unlawful Terry Stop, by Anthony Accurso
  15. Connecticut Supreme Court: Trial Court Abused Discretion by Limiting Self-Represented Defendant’s Direct Examination Regarding Risk of Injury to a Child, by Matthew Clarke
  16. Fifth Circuit Affirms Habeas Relief and New Trial Based on Counsel’s Failure to Interview State’s Key Eyewitness in Murder Case, by Dale Chappell
  17. Minnesota Supreme Court Announces Confession Must Be Corroborated by Independent Evidence Crime Occurred, Rejects Federal ‘Trustworthiness Standard’ for Corpus Delicti Rule, by Douglas Ankney
  18. Crushing Whistleblowers, by Jayson Hawkins
  19. California Court of Appeal Orders New Trial Due to Jurors Considering Potential Penalty During Guilt Phase of Deliberations, by Douglas Ankney
  20. Colorado Supreme Court Announces Parents’ Income That’s Unavailable to Defendant Who Lives With Them Expense-Free Not Included in Indigency Determination for Court-Appointed Counsel, by Matthew Clarke
  21. FOIA Request Reveals How the FBI Obtains and Analyzes Cellular Provider Data, by Anthony Accurso
  22. Vermont Supreme Court: Under Totality of Circumstances, Police Interview of Defendant in Store Parking Lot Was ‘Custodial Interrogation,’ Triggering Requirement for Miranda Warnings, by Anthony Accurso
  23. Facbook Reminds Police, No Dummy Accounts for Surveillance, by Anthony Accurso
  24. Government Drones Compromise National Security, yet the NYPD Uses Them, by Ashleigh Dye
  25. LASD Defends Practice of Stopping Latino Bicyclists, Says People Using Bikes for Transportation Are Generally Criminals, by Douglas Ankney
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