Black Children Were Jailed for a Crime That Doesn’t Exist. Almost Nothing Happened to the Adults in Charge.This is a really long article so I won't post it, save for the link which is worth your time, if you manage to keep the rage from overflowing as you read it that is. What I will post is a twitter threat that's more of a tl;dr.
https://www.propublica.org/article/black-children-were-jailed-for-a-crime-that-doesnt-exist$1:
Three police officers went to an *elementary* school in Tennessee & arrested four Black girls.
One girl fell to her knees. Another threw up. Police handcuffed the youngest, an 8 yo with pigtails.
Their supposed crime? Watching some boys fight — and not stopping them.
The police wound up arresting 11 kids in total, using a charge called “criminal responsibility.”
The arrests created outrage. State lawmakers called the case “unconscionable,” “inexcusable,” “insane.”
So how did this happen?
These arrests took place in Rutherford County, which had been illegally jailing kids for years, all under the watch of Judge Donna Scott Davenport.
Donna Scott Davenport is the only elected juvenile court judge the county has ever had.
She oversees the courts.
She oversees the juvenile jail.
She directed police on what she called “our process” for arresting children.
Davenport describes her work as a calling.
“I’m here on a mission. It’s God’s mission,” she once told a newspaper.
She says children must have consequences. She encourages parents to use drug-testing kits on their kids. “Don’t buy them at the Dollar Tree,” she says. “The best ones are your reputable drug stores.”
Under Davenport, Rutherford County locked up a staggering 48% of children whose cases were referred to juvenile court.
The statewide average was 5%.
Lynn Duke, appointed by Davenport, is the county’s head jailer.
Tennessee narrowly limits when kids can be locked up. But Duke had her own way: the “filter system.”
Her jail locked up any kid deemed a “TRUE threat.”
As for what’s a “TRUE threat,” her handbook didn’t say.
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The police officer who investigated this fight was Chrystal Templeton. She wanted to charge every kid who watched. She believed charging them was helping them.
By the time of this investigation, Templeton had been disciplined at least 37 times, her personnel file shows.
To arrive at a charge, Templeton met with two judicial commissioners.
In Rutherford County, these commissioners wield great legal power. They can issue warrants, set bail and conduct probable cause hearings — all without needing a law degree.
One commissioner, who used to work in a post office, came up with the charge of “criminal responsibility for conduct of another.”
The problem? There’s no such charge.
These kids were charged with a crime that doesn’t exist.
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