In Tarrant County, incarceration is becoming more the norm. Although juvenile arrests have dropped sharply in recent years, children accused of crimes are being held longer in the increasingly overcrowded detention center. More than half of the kids detained last year were Black, while less than one-fifth of the county is. The shift toward increased incarceration has in large part been pinned on the juvenile courts, led since 2019 by a longtime conservative politician turned scandal-plagued judge.