Sam Benningfield
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Sam E. "Sammie" Benningfield is a judge for the White/VanBuren County General Sessions Court in Tennessee. He also has jurisdiction over the juvenile courts of White County and Van Buren County. He is based in Sparta.[1]
Benningfield was first elected to the office in 1998. He was re-elected in 2014.[2]
Biography
Benningfield earned a B.A. from the Tennessee Technological University in 1982. He went on to earn a J.D. from the Nashville School of Law in 1991. He was admitted to the Tennessee Bar the same year.[3]
Elections
2014
See also: Tennessee judicial elections, 2014
Benningfield ran for re-election to the White/VanBuren County General Sessions Court.
General: He won without opposition in the general election on August 7, 2014.
[2]
1998
Benningfield was first elected to the court in 1998.
Noteworthy events
Sentence reduction for birth control and sterilization (2017)
On November 15, 2017, Benningfield received a public reprimand from the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct for offering White County inmates a 30-day credit toward their jail time if they volunteered for long acting reversible contraception (LARC), or sterilization. "You have acknowledged that even though [you] were trying to accomplish a worthy goal in preventing the birth of substance addicted babies by the entry of your order of May 15, 2017," the board wrote in its reprimand letter, "you now realize that this order could unduly coerce inmates into undergoing a surgical procedure which would cause at least a temporary sterilization, and it was therefore improper."[4]
The standing order offered male inmates vasectomies and female inmates an implant effective for up to four years, to be administered by the Tennessee Department of Health at no charge to the inmates. Inmates were also offered a two-day credit toward their sentences if they completed a neonatal syndrome education program.[5]
Benningfield said his intention in issuing the order was to discourage repeat drug offenders who could not afford child support from having more children. "I hope to encourage them to take personal responsibility and give them a chance, when they do get out, to not to be burdened with children. This gives them a chance to get on their feet and make something of themselves," he said.[5] "As I contemplated this program, it occurred to me that many of the same women I had incarcerated were the very same from whom I was having to remove their children in my role as the juvenile judge because they were born addicted to drugs," he continued. "Many of the male population had multiple children for whom they were constantly in trouble for not supporting."[6]
District Attorney Bryant Dunaway, Tennessee 4th Circuit Court Judge O. Duane Slone, and the Tennessee Department of Health each voiced opposition to the order.[5][6] Slone, who started a program that offered LARC to female inmates in Sevier County and Cocke County but did not offer jail time credits, said he shared Benningfield's concerns about children being born into households with substance abuse. "[Benningfield's] intentions, I'm sure, were really good ones," he said, "but we really need to think about this in a broader sense, all the good that can be accomplished and is being accomplished in the right way."[6] Dunaway noted that, "It’s comprehensible that an 18-year-old gets this done, it can’t get reversed and then that impacts the rest of their life."[7]
The ACLU, which also opposed the order, issued the following statement about it:
| “ | Offering a so-called 'choice' between jail time and coerced contraception or sterilization is unconstitutional. Such a choice violates the fundamental constitutional right to reproductive autonomy and bodily integrity by interfering with the intimate decision of whether and when to have a child, imposing an intrusive medical procedure on individuals who are not in a position to reject it. Judges play an important role in our community – overseeing individuals’ childbearing capacity should not be part of that role.[8] | ” |
| —ACLU (2017)[5] | ||
Benningfield withdrew the order in late July 2017.[9] The county reported that, during the time the order was effective, 32 female inmates had received implants as part of the program and 38 male inmates had signed up for vasectomies. In his filing rescinding the order, Benningfield said that inmates who had signed up for the procedures during the order's effective period could still receive credit on their sentences if they also took "serious and considered steps toward their rehabilitation."[5][9]
Benningfield released the statement below after the initial reaction to his order and before his reversal of the order: <
See also
- Courts in Tennessee
- White County, Tennessee
- Van Buren County, Tennessee
- Tennessee General Sessions Courts
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts, "Juvenile Court Judge Listing," February 22, 2011
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tennessee Secretary of State, "2014 State Primary and County General Van Buren County Official Ballot ," August 7, 2014
- ↑ Martindale.com, "Sammie E. Benningfield," accessed July 25, 2017
- ↑ Tennessean, "Tennessee judge reprimanded for shaving off jail time for inmates who received vasectomies," November 20, 2017
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 'ABC 15 Arizona, "Tenn. county inmates given reduced jail time if they get a vasectomy," July 20, 2017
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 WBIR.com, "East TN judge 'concerned' by colleague offering incentives for birth control in jail," July 24, 2017
- ↑ Business Insider, "Tennessee jails have been shortening sentences for inmates who get vasectomies or birth control implants," July 20, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 The Washington Post, "Tennessee judge, under fire, pulls offer to trade shorter jail sentences for vasectomies," July 28, 2017
Federal courts:
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Tennessee, Middle District of Tennessee, Western District of Tennessee • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Tennessee, Middle District of Tennessee, Western District of Tennessee
State courts:
Tennessee Supreme Court • Tennessee Court of Appeals • Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals • Tennessee Circuit Court • Tennessee Chancery Courts • Tennessee Criminal Court • Tennessee Probate Court • Tennessee General Sessions Court • Tennessee Juvenile Court • Tennessee Municipal Court
State resources:
Courts in Tennessee • Tennessee judicial elections • Judicial selection in Tennessee
