NYCE Archived Documents

History of the current Juvenile Justice Center

The current Juvenile Justice Center, located at 100 Woodland Street, opened its doors in 1994. At the time, Juvenile Court housed 4 judicial officers, one elected juvenile court judge and three appointed juvenile court magistrates. Over time, as the demand for services grew, additional magistrates and additional courtrooms were needed. In response to this demand, several agencies and programs were displaced from the building to allow renovation to provide four additional courtrooms. In 2008, Mayor Karl Dean repurposed a former public works facility, located at 945 Dr. Richard Adams Dr., to create the Metro Student Attendance Center (MSAC) to address truancy. MSAC, a partnership between Juvenile Court and MNPS houses an additional courtroom that is also used for Safe Babies Court. Today, Juvenile Court houses 10 judicial officers, one elected juvenile court judge and 9 appointed juvenile court magistrates. Juvenile court petitions cover custody, visitation, establishing parentage, child support, guardianship, child abuse, neglect, dependency, delinquency, unruly and other juvenile related issues. In addition, the pre-trial housing facility houses an average of 35-40 justice-involved youth daily. Judge Calloway entered an agreement with Sheriff Daron Hall in 2015 to prevent justice-involved youth that were transferred and convicted in adult court from being housed in the county detention center with adults, until they turn 18. This agreement ensures that these justice-involved youth will receive age-appropriate rehabilitation services and development in our pre-trial housing facility until they are 18 years old, as part of our effort to redefine how juvenile justice is administered in Nashville. The average length of stay for justice-involved youth in our pre-trial housing facility is 14 days.

You can view and read the entire master plan document at this link:
Nashville Juvenile Justice Center Master Plan