by This originally appeared on Cleveland.com on March 24, 2021. Written by Micah Derry and Claire Chevrier.
CLEVELAND — Seventy-five percent of Ohio voters believe Ohio’s criminal justice system needs reform. According to Brian Tringali from The Tarrance Group, the conservative firm that conducted the new poll that reveals this, “it’s hard to get 75% of Ohio voters to agree the sky is blue.”
So how’s it possible criminal justice and bail reform have captured the bipartisan hearts and minds of Ohioans?
Because they make sense. Whether you’re concerned about public safety, believe in “innocent until proven guilty,” or want to conserve taxpayer dollars, bail reform is an issue you should care about, and according to this poll, you probably already do.
Depending on where someone is arrested in Ohio, because practices vary, they may have the opportunity to buy their freedom through a bond schedule. If they can’t afford bond, they’ll likely remain in jail. Once in front of a judge, it’s again possible — in some areas, likely — that their release will be contingent on their ability to post cash bail. Those with resources go home, those without remain jailed, with very little influence from evidence shedding light on guilt or innocence.
This does not promote public safety. According to a 2017 report from The Buckeye Institute, “the money-based bail system has led to perverse instances in which dangerous but well-off defendants roam free pending trial, while many low-level offenders who pose no real threat to the community but cannot afford bail remain in jail for days, weeks, or even months until trial.”
Unnecessary pretrial detention creates long-lasting harms for individuals, families, and communities. People who remain jailed pretrial are put at risk of losing their job, their home, and even custody of their children, and these harms can occur even if someone is ultimately found innocent. People who remain jailed pretrial are also more likely to get convicted, get sentenced to jail or prison, and their sentences are longer compared with those charged with the same crime and released pretrial. This undermines our constitutional rights; we are innocent until proven guilty.
It’s also expensive. According to a 2020 report from the ACLU of Ohio, it costs Ohio taxpayers up to $306 million annually to jail legally innocent individuals who have not yet had their days in court. Sixty-three percent of those jailed pretrial are held on misdemeanors or non-person felonies (felonies committed against property, not an individual). Ohio would save up to $264 million annually if it released people based on whether they pose a threat, instead of how much money they have.
To quote an article by the New Hampshire affiliates of Americans for Prosperity and the ACLU, “it is critical to note that people who are released pretrial are not getting away ‘scot free.’ They will still be held accountable for the charges against them.” Further, in Ohio, those charged with the most serious crimes are eligible for preventative detention, a determination by a judge that someone must remain in jail pretrial if there is no safe alternative.
Ultimately, it’s unsurprising that 67% of Ohioans favor reforming Ohio’s bail system so release decisions are based on individual circumstances and cases, not personal finances. Seventy-seven percent of Ohioans favor requiring a hearing on release options and conditions in front of a judge within 48 hours of detention. Sixty-nine percent support a release path for most people to go home the same day they’re arrested if they don’t pose a flight risk and are not a threat to anyone.
So perhaps the real surprise is that, with such extensive public support, these reforms are not already Ohio law. But they can be. And these poll results indicate that, overwhelmingly, Ohioans will support legislators in Columbus passing true bail reform.
Micah Derry is state director at the Ohio chapter of Americans for Prosperity, where he coordinates grassroots efforts and advocates for economic and criminal justice reform. Claire Chevrier is policy counsel at the ACLU of Ohio, where she leads their statewide advocacy on bail reform.