Donna Scott Davenport (born Scott) is the first judge to have overseen the
Rutherford County, Tennessee
Rutherford County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located in Middle Tennessee. As of the 2021 census, the population was 352,182, making it the fifth-most populous county in Tennessee. A study conducted by the Univers ...
juvenile justice system, filling the newly created position in 2000. She is also a former adjunct professor at her ''alma mater'',
Middle Tennessee State University
Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a public university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight undergraduate colleges as well as a college of graduate studies, together off ...
(MTSU). She presided over the juvenile court and legal system for the county, appointed magistrates (formerly, referees), set protocols, directed police and heard cases involving minors, including parents charged with child neglect.
[''Black Children Were Jailed for a Crime That Doesn’t Exist. Almost Nothing Happened to the Adults in Charge"''](_blank)
Meribah Knight and Ken Armstrong, ''ProPublica'', December 15, 2021. Retrieved June 23, 2022. Despite published reports of Davenport operating juvenile court outside of the tenets of law, including her own admissions, Davenport remained on the bench until retiring at the end of her term, in September 2022, while lawmakers debated ending her tenure sooner.
Family and education
According to their obituaries, she was born to Howard and Winifred Campbell Scott, a teacher. Her father was a decorated
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
pilot with a distinguished
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
service record.
She attended
North Greenville University
North Greenville University is a private Baptist university in Tigerville, South Carolina. It is affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention (Southern Baptist Convention). It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and ...
, a private
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
college in Tigerville,
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
. She subsequently received bachelor's, then master's degrees in criminal justice from
MTSU
Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a public university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight undergraduate colleges as well as a college of graduate studies, together off ...
, followed by a
J.D. from
Nashville School of Law
Nashville School of Law (formerly known as the Nashville YMCA Night Law School), is a private law school founded in 1911. The school's students attend classes at night on a part-time basis.
History
In the fall of 1911, Morton B. Adams, Will ...
,
[Rutherford County]
"Donna Scott Davenport". Retrieved June 23, 2022. in 1986.
["Donna Scott Davenport"]
''Ballotpedia'', December 15, 2021. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
She wrote the
Tennessee State bar exam about a year after graduation. After failing the exam four times, Davenport passed in 1995, on her fifth attempt,
[ then began teaching as an adjunct professor of criminal justice at MTSU the following year.][
]
Career
Davenport was admitted to the Tennessee Bar in 1995, nine years after receiving a law degree. She co-founded Rogers and Scott Attorneys at Law in 1995 with J. Mark Rogers,[ now a Sixteenth Circuit ]Courts of Tennessee Courts of Tennessee include:
;State courts of Tennessee
*Tennessee Supreme Court
**Tennessee Court of Appeals (3 grand divisions)
**Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals (3 grand divisions)
***Tennessee Circuit Courts (31 judicial districts) judge overseeing Rutherford County. In 1998, she was appointed as a part-time juvenile court referee (now Magistrate) by a Rutherford County Judge. She left the law firm and became a full-time court referee in 1999.[
The following year, the county violated federal law 191 times by keeping kids incarcerated for longer then legally allowed. Interviewed, Davenport estimated that half of the noted violations were levied for children uttering curse words to her or another, for which she typically punished them with between two and 10 days in jail, despite admitting to the illegality of the sentence: "Was I in violation?... "Heck, yes. But am I going to allow a child to cuss anyone out? Heck, no."][ Less than three months later, in 2000, Davenport was elected to the newly created position of juvenile court judge.][
She was subsequently elected twice, unopposed, as the incumbent, in 2006 and 2014, to two full eight-year terms as Judge of the Juvenile Court of Rutherford County. Her current term expires in September 2022.]["Embattled Juvenile Court Judge Donna Scott Davenport announces retirement"]
Tayla Courage, ''Main Street Nashville'', January 18, 2022. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
In March 2013, following acceptance of her capstone project
A capstone course, also known as senior synthesis, capstone unit, capstone module, capstone project, capstone subject, or capstone experience, serves as the culminating and usually integrative experience of an educational program. It may also be r ...
, "Rutherford County: A Multi-Systemic Strategy with Partners", Davenport was named a Fellow of the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform of Georgetown University Law Center
The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...
in Washington, DC.[
''Murfreesboro Magazine'' named her a recipient of a 2014 Women in Business award.][
]
Illegal juvenile arrest policy scandal
In her role as sole juvenile court judge, Davenport devised a unique, so-called "filter system" aside from federal or local processes.["Rutherford Co. judge, who illegally jailed Black children using fake law, faces renewed criticism"]
Gerald Harris, WKRN
WKRN-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are located on Murfreesboro Road (U.S. Routes 41 and 70S) on Nashville's southeast ...
, October 11, 2021. Retrieved June 23, 2022. In 2003, Davenport issued a memo, which outlined her decree for local law enforcement to arrest, transport to the juvenile detention center for screening, then file charging papers for all children, emphasizing that "IT IS SO ORDERED". She later modified the directive to add lesser violations, such as truancy.[
In 2008, Rutherford County included a new ]juvenile detention center
In criminal justice systems, a youth detention center, known as a juvenile detention center (JDC),Stahl, Dean, Karen Kerchelich, and Ralph De Sola. ''Abbreviations Dictionary''. CRC Press, 20011202. Retrieved 23 August 2010. , . juvenile de ...
in its $23,300,000 expansion of the county jail. Subsequently, Davenport narrated a marketing video, "What Can the Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center Do For You?” featuring images of children in black-and-white striped prison uniforms, to solicit other counties in the region to have "detained youth" sent to the new facility for incarceration, at $175 per day per child. The video claimed that over 20 Tennessee counties had contracted with Rutherford's juvenile jail. As of 2021, 39 counties were contracting with Rutherford County to imprison youth, along with the U.S. Marshals Service.
In 2014, 48 percent of children brought before Davenport were jailed, while the statewide average was five percent.[
In 2016, a 15-year-old was placed in solitary confinement for five days with only a mattress and toilet. The family filed a complaint against the Rutherford County juvenile jail, with support from the ]ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
. Davenport responded by issuing an order temporarily suspending the use of solitary confinement for juveniles.[ Another child was denied his psychiatric medication while jailed for four days,][Rutherford County Judge accused of jailing Black children under fake law"]
localmemphis.com, ABC-24 WATN-TV
WATN-TV (channel 24) is a television station in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside CW affiliate WLMT (channel 30). Both stations share studios at the Shelby Oaks Corporate Park on Shel ...
, October 13, 2021. Retrieved June 23, 2022. and a developmentally disabled child was also ordered into indefinite solitary confinement.[
In 2016, lawmakers called for a federal investigation into the arrest and detainment of 11 young, black elementary school children in Rutherford County who had merely, allegedly, witnessed a fight between five and six-year-olds.][ The following year, Rutherford County agreed to a ]class action
A class action, also known as a class-action lawsuit, class suit, or representative action, is a type of lawsuit where one of the parties is a group of people who are represented collectively by a member or members of that group. The class actio ...
settlement of $397,500 for the 11 children.[ In May 2017, a federal court ordered Rutherford County to stop using Davenport's so-called "filter system",][ noting that it "departs drastically" from ordinary juvenile detention standards. The court wrote that the "illegal detention" is causing "irreparable harm every day" to children in the jurisdiction.][
In December 2017, United States Federal Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. settled a class action suit against Rutherford County on behalf of 394 claimants for $6 million, awarded to "citizens taken into custody and/or detained by the Rutherford County Juvenile Detention Center on or after Oct. 14, 2015", and signed an order preventing Davenport from incarcerating children.]["Rutherford County settles kids-in-jail class action for $6M"]
Michelle Willard, ''Murfreesboro Voice'', Dec 21, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
In October 2021, ''PBS News Hour
''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of issues and current events.
Anchored by Judy Woodruff, the progr ...
'' broadcast an investigative report by Meribah Knight of Nashville Public Radio
WPLN-FM (90.3 FM), is a National Public Radio-affiliated station in Nashville, Tennessee. Since June 2011, the station has employed exclusively a news and talk format; until then, the station carried at least some classical music. The station m ...
(WPLN) and Ken Armstrong of ProPublica
ProPublica (), legally Pro Publica, Inc., is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. In 2010, it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its journalists''The Guardian'', April 13, 2010P ...
which exposes Davenport's enforced culture of operating outside the law throughout her more than 20 years on the juvenile court bench;["Tennessee judge jailed minors on bogus charges following playground fights, cursing"]
Lisa Desjardins PBS News Hour
''PBS NewsHour'' is an American evening television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS member stations. It airs seven nights a week, and is known for its in-depth coverage of issues and current events.
Anchored by Judy Woodruff, the progr ...
, PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
, October 12, 2021. Retrieved June 23, 2022. Investigative reporters Knight and Armstrong were subsequently nominated for a Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
for the feature article. That month, Davenport was quoted as stating that her job is not legal but, "God's mission",[''Editor’s column: Sickening systemic abuse in Rutherford County calls for action'']
Holly McCall, ''Tennessee Lookout'', October 12, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2022. referencing herself as "the mother of the county".[ The following month, Davenport was reported as still "parading herself around as some kind of Great White Mother to Rutherford County's children".
Lawyer for the 2017 class action plaintiffs Kyle Mothershead stated, in February 2022, that Rutherford County had illegally arrested and incarcerated minor children prior to Davenport's appointment as its juvenile court judge in 2000.
]
Aftermath
Rutherford County Representative
Representative may refer to:
Politics
* Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people
* House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities
* Legislator, som ...
John Ray Clemmons
John Ray Clemmons (born July 14, 1977) is an American politician from the state of Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he serves in the Tennessee House of Representatives, representing the 55th district, in West Nashville.
Early lif ...
released a statement decrying inaction, "As I stated in 2016, there is no rational justification for any of this in our society. Both the state and county have obviously failed children and families, predominantly Black individuals and that these individuals, through their own acts and admissions, have proven themselves wholly unfit for the important positions they currently hold."[ ]Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Jeff Yarbro
Jeff Yarbro (born February 16, 1977) is an American attorney and politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he has represented District 21 in the Tennessee Senate since 2015, and has been the Minority Leader of the chamber since ...
stated that "It's a horror show plain and simple, it's abusive and it doesn't even resemble law".[
Following news reports, ]MTSU
Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU or MT) is a public university in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Founded in 1911 as a normal school, the university consists of eight undergraduate colleges as well as a college of graduate studies, together off ...
announced that Davenport had been removed from the school's faculty."MTSU drops Judge Donna Scott Davenport as professor,"
by Tayla Courage, ''Murfreesboro Post'', October 15–18, 2021. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
In January 2022, she announced that she plans to retire at the end of her term, in September 2022, remaining on the bench until that time. She released a statement, in the wake of allegations against her, that she remains "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".[
Senator Heidi Campbell and Representative Gloria Johnson sponsored a resolution to authorize the Tennessee State Senate and House leaders to choose a judicial panel to consider the case for removing Davenport from the bench.][
The Rutherford County Commission is assembling a new Juvenile Detention Board to "oversee incarceration operations", effectively replacing Davenport and her successors as oversight for juvenile detention staff, which is led by its director, Lynn Duke.]["Travis Lampley wins Rutherford County Juvenile Court judge race"]
Scott Broden, ''Daily News Journal,'' August 4, 2021. Retrieved August 10, 2022.
In August 2022, Republican Juvenile Court nominee Travis Lampley won the juvenile court judgeship, and will succeed Davenport in September.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davenport, Donna Scott
Living people
20th-century American women lawyers
20th-century American lawyers
21st-century American judges
21st-century American women judges
Rutherford County, Tennessee
Overturned convictions in the United States
Judicial misconduct
Ethically disputed judicial practices
Juvenile courts
Middle Tennessee State University alumni
North Greenville University alumni
Nashville School of Law alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)