Juvenile solitary: Close-up of legs and hands-in-lap of black person wearing over-sized navy pants sitting on edge of built-in cement bench with metal toilet in background.

Despite outcry over seclusion at juvenile detention centers, Tennessee lawmakers fail to pass oversight bill

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Children in Rutherford County,  have been arrested and jailed at rates unparalleled in the state. This story reports on an investigation of why that is happening — and other ways the justice system there singles out children. A bill that would strengthen oversight of Tennessee’s juvenile detention centers has failed, despite a concerted push for reform after multiple county-run facilities were found to be locking children alone in cells.

Real justice for juveniles requires that judges, lawyers and court employees be trained in youth development, cultural distinctions among youth and how trauma may drive how youth behave in court, according to several youth justice groups.

Opinion: Youth Justice Needs Specialized Training of Judges, Lawyers, Court Employees, and Courtroom Language that Doesn’t Demean

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“Move the bodies.” That’s what a defense lawyer recently overheard an employee in juvenile court say, as if the young people being brought into the courtroom for the next hearing were animals to be herded. The dehumanizing of young people involved in the criminal legal system is common, unfortunately. Those comments, and the attitudes underlying them, can have detrimental effects on youth who hear themselves spoken about with bias, disapproval and disrespect.