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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Donna Davenport, a juvenile-court judge from Rutherford County, <keyword id="11919824" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tennessee" source="Orion">Tennessee</keyword>, announced she's retiring.</li><li>Davenport faced criticism after reports said she led policies to illegally arrest and detain minors.</li></ul>A Tennessee juvenile-court judge who received backlash for <a href="https://www.insider.com/tennessee-judge-accused-policies-arrest-detain-children-2021-10">routinely arresting and jailing children</a> has announced that she plans to retire this year. Donna Scott Davenport, a judge in Rutherford County's juvenile court, said she didn't plan to seek reelection for the position that she's held since 2000. "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."Davenport's term ends in September. Her retirement announcement came one day after state legislators in Tennessee <a href="https://www.newschannel5.com/news/lawmakers-issue-resolution-to-remove-judge-donna-scott-davenport">issued a resolution</a> to remove her from the bench. So far, <a href="https://www.wgnsradio.com/article/72713/andrae-crismon-announced-his-candidacy-for-juvenile-court-judge">two</a> <a href="https://www.murfreesboropost.com/news/candidate-announcement-jacob-flatt-for-juvenile-court-judge/article_84a56c10-4887-11ec-9c2b-5bb7c645c5eb.html">candidates</a> have announced that they're running to fill her position. <h2>A system of illegally jailing children</h2>Last October, an extensive report by <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/black-children-were-jailed-for-a-crime-that-doesnt-exist">ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio</a> found that Davenport orchestrated a system to arrest and jail children, many of whom were Black.Davenport used a process that included an "always arrest" policy, in which children were arrested by police and taken to a <keyword id="12990670" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="juvenile-detention-center" source="Orion">juvenile detention center</keyword> where a jailer — who was appointed by Davenport — used a "filter system" to decide which children to hold. The children later appeared before Davenport in juvenile court.Jacob Somers, who told Insider that Davenport threatened to lock him up until he was 18 if he didn't straighten up, said the judge appeared to be "retiring to avoid guilt."Somers was one of almost <a href="https://www.insider.com/former-child-detainees-tennessee-detention-center-rutherford-county-judge-2021-11">1,500 plaintiffs</a> in a class-action lawsuit against Rutherford County that was settled for $11 million.Kyle Mothershead, one of the attorneys in the class-action lawsuit, said hundreds of claims for settlement money were submitted to the claims administrator following the lawsuit. Plaintiffs who were illegally arrested could get $1,000, and those who were illegally detained could get about $4,800, he said. Mothershead also said the "filter system" used by jailers to decide which children to detain was no longer in place at Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center. A 2017 preliminary injunction on the system was made permanent as part of the settlement agreement for the lawsuit."The 'always arrest' policy is no longer in effect either. This was not the result of a court order, but rather the law-enforcement agencies changing their juvenile-arrest policies in response to our lawsuit," Mothershead said. <h2>Former child detainees demand accountability </h2>Akira Lawrence, 22, said she was arrested dozens of times between ages 11 to 17, and that she appeared before Davenport many times. She said none of the charges against her was for drugs or violence. "We were treated like animals, and we were just kids," Lawrence said. "I was treated like I murdered someone, and that was never the case. They acted like I was just horrible."Lawrence said she was traumatized by her experience at Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center, and that it was one of the reasons she moved out of the county. "I have PTSD from my childhood there," she said.Lawrence said Davenport retiring meant there was no accountability for how children like her were treated. "There's no way that they should just let her retire," Lawrence said. "How could you say that you helped us?"Following initial reports of Davenport's practices while on the bench, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee <a href="https://wpln.org/post/governor-says-rutherford-county-judge-should-be-reviewed-after-report-on-the-juvenile-justice-system/">called for a review</a> of the judge. Such a review would be conducted by the <a href="https://www.tncourts.gov/boards-commissions/court-judiciary/disciplinary-actions">Board of Judicial Conduct</a>, which can file public reprimands on judges as well as formal charges. Davenport <a href="https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/docs/judge_donnasdavenport_-_public_reprimand2016may23.pdf">received a public reprimand</a> in 2016 after she referred to a parent as a "sneaky snake" in court and called his attorneys "conniving." Barbara Peck, the communications director for the board, previously told Insider that she couldn't comment on whether there was an investigation into Davenport because of confidentiality."If an investigation leads to public disciplinary action, such as a public reprimand, the reprimand will be posted on the board's webpage. If formal charges are filed against a judge, that would likewise be made public." In a comment to Insider, Peck said the board loses jurisdiction to reprimand or charge a judge if they retire."Once a judge retires or resigns, the Board of Judicial Conduct loses jurisdiction and cannot take any further action in a pending matter. Thus, it is not possible to formally charge a judge with an ethics violation or for discipline to be imposed once a judge leaves office. Sometimes, however, a resignation or retirement is the end result of an investigation or the form of discipline imposed," Peck said. For Lawrence, the <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">news</keyword> of Davenport retiring, seemingly without consequences, made her feel helpless. She said the judge's comments on how she "positively affected the lives of young people" were false. "It's not positively. I'm about to cry. It hasn't really positively affected families at all," Lawrence said. "I can't believe this is happening, and there's nothing I can do."

Tennessee judge who routinely jailed children announced she's retiring, but traumatized former detainees say she's leaving the bench to 'avoid guilt'

A Black teen didn't do her online schoolwork during the pandemic. A judge sent her to juvenile detention.

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="19027" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Minnesota">Minnesota</keyword>'s AG wants the judge who presided over <keyword id="9301885" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="derek-chauvin">Derek Chauvin</keyword>'s trial to edit his sentencing memo. </li><li><keyword id="218293" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Keith-Ellison">Keith Ellison</keyword> said the judge used language suggesting kids at the scene of <keyword id="9295731" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="george-floyd">George Floyd</keyword>'s murder weren't traumatized.</li><li>The language could be read as "adultification" and discounting Black girls' experience, he said.</li></ul>Minnesota's attorney general sent a letter Wednesday to the judge who presided over the Derek Chauvin trial, asking that he "correct the record" around the responsibility of the children at the scene of George Floyd's murder.Attorney General Keith Ellison wrote that he wasn't asking to change Chauvin's 22.5 year sentence, but rather that the judge edit a sentencing memo where he suggests that the four juveniles who witnessed Floyd's death were free to leave the scene. Three girls who witnessed the murder were 17 at the time, and another girl was 9. "Children lack the adult capacity for decision-making, including the ability to maturely 'walk away.' Moreover, the law does not place the burden on a child to choose between staying-whether to stand witness or in an attempt to aid a victim-or leaving the scene of a <keyword id="39494" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Crime">crime</keyword>," Ellison wrote <a href="https://www.mncourts.gov/mncourtsgov/media/High-Profile-Cases/27-CR-20-12646/MCRO_27-CR-20-12646_Correspondence-for-Judicial-Approval_2021-07-07_20210708080539.pdf">in the letter</a> to Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill. "For good reason: The responsibility of shielding a child from witnessing a crime should not fall on the child." Prosecutors had argued that Chauvin should receive a sentence above and beyond the standard guidelines due to aggravating factors, including that he killed Floyd while children were in the area. Cahill ultimately found there were aggregating factors that warranted an upward departure in the usual 12.5-year sentence for a first-time offender like Chauvin, but he ruled the four girls' presence at the scene wasn't one of them. Cahill wrote last month in <a href="https://www.mncourts.gov/mncourtsgov/media/High-Profile-Cases/27-CR-20-12646/MCRO_27-CR-20-12646_Sentencing-Order_2021-06-25_20210625145755.pdf">the sentencing memo</a> that the four girls had walked over after officers subdued Floyd and weren't present when they were struggling to get him into a police cruiser.The judge wrote that there was no evidence the four girls - including <a href="https://www.insider.com/darnella-fraziers-tribute-on-anniversary-of-george-floyds-death-2021-5">Darnella Frazier, the teenager who recorded Floyd's killing</a> - were traumatized by the event. "Mr. Chauvin is correct in saying that these young women were free to leave the scene as they wished, were never coerced or forced by him or any of the other officers to remain a captive presence at the scene, and did not know any of the officers or Mr. Floyd, and that this weighs against this factor as the basis for an aggregated departure," Cahill wrote.<div type="image" title="george floyd tou thao body cam" height="1574" width="2864" msid="84240535" hostid="261"></div><h2>The memo may send 'the message that the pain these young women have endured is not real'</h2>Ellison disagreed with the court that there was no evidence the girls had been traumatized by what they saw, pointing to Frazier's testimony that <a href="https://www.insider.com/teen-recorded-george-floyd-death-testifies-derek-chauvin-trial-2021-3">she stays up at night apologizing to Floyd for not doing more to save his life.</a>Ellison added that the state is "deeply worried" the court is sending a message that suggests children shouldn't intervene to stop a crime, but instead "simply walk away and ignore their moral compasses."He argued the court also shouldn't have pointed out in the sentencing memo that the girls "giggled" at certain points during the incident. "But that observation is completely immaterial: Children process traumatic experiences in ways that may seem unusual to the untrained eye," Ellison wrote.The attorney general noted that research suggests "adults view Black girls as less innocent and more adult-like than their white peers," and this practice of "adultification" can lead to observers discounting a young Black girl's trauma. The letter was <a href="https://www.mncourts.gov/mncourtsgov/media/High-Profile-Cases/27-CR-20-12646/MCRO_27-CR-20-12646_Correspondence-for-Judicial-Approval_2021-07-07_20210708080539.pdf">supplemented with a report</a> from a Triple Board-Certified Child &amp; Adolescent, Adult and Forensic Psychiatrist.Editing the memo would not affect Chauvin's sentence, Ellison wrote in the letter, "but will avoid the risk of sending the message that the pain these young women have endured is not real or does not matter, or worse, that it is a product of their own decisions and not a consequence of Defendant's."

A judge wrote that the girls who witnessed George Floyd's murder were free to walk away. Minnesota's AG wants to correct the record.

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Tennessee judge who routinely jailed children announced she's retiring, but traumatized former detainees say she's leaving the bench to 'avoid guilt'

Katie Balevic

A Black teen didn't do her online schoolwork during the pandemic. A judge sent her to juvenile detention.

Jodi S. Cohen

A judge wrote that the girls who witnessed George Floyd's murder were free to walk away. Minnesota's AG wants to correct the record.

Haven Orecchio-Egresitz

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