The Troubling Reality of Juvenile Justice in Rutherford County

In April 2016, 11 Black schoolchildren, some as young as 8 years old, were arrested in Rutherford County, Tenn. The reason? They didn’t stop a fight between some other kids. 

What happened in the wake of those arrests would expose a juvenile justice system that was playing by its own rules. For years, this county had arrested and illegally jailed hundreds, maybe thousands, of children. Why was this happening – and what would it take to stop it? 

From Serial Productions and The New York Times, in partnership with ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio, “The Kids of Rutherford County” is hosted by Meribah Knight, a Peabody Award-winning reporter based in the South. The full four-part series is out now.

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