The Ohio House The Ohio Senate
of Representatives
Senator Bill Seitz
Representative Mike Moran
July 26, 2010 For Immediate Release
State Leaders Briefed on a New Report on the Effectiveness of Ohio’s Criminal Justice System Columbus—State policymakers joined with stakeholders from across Ohio’s justice system today to discuss a report on the cost-effectiveness of the state’s criminal justice policies. The report summarizes a comprehensive analysis conducted by the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center at the request of the governor, legislative leaders, and the judiciary. The analysis has been guided by a bipartisan, inter-branch body of lawmakers, state agency directors, and members of the Ohio Supreme Court. The report highlights three areas in which the state could make improvements that can reduce crime and make more fiscally responsible uses of existing resources: •
Property and drug offenders in Ohio cycle through a costly “revolving door”: they are sentenced to state prison for a short time and are subsequently released to the community with no supervision. More than 10,000 fourth and fifth degree felony property and drug offenders were sentenced to state prison in 2008 for an average of nine months at a cost of $189 million. After serving brief sentences, 72 percent were returned to the community with no supervision.
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Community correction programs in Ohio do not have clear criteria to inform the selection of program participants, making it difficult for these programs to be costeffective tools for diverting people from prison and reducing crime. The state invests over $130 million annually in diversion programs, but does not provide any data-driven selection criteria for program participants. Without such criteria, judges cannot be certain they are sentencing people to programs from which they will benefit the most.
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Ohio’s probation system is a patchwork of independent agencies that do not have consistent policies. At the end of 2008, an estimated 260,000 people in Ohio were on probation and supervised by one or more municipal, county, or state agencies. The Page 1 of 3
operations of these agencies overlap and are uncoordinated. Training and supervision standards vary significantly, and no meaningful data are collected statewide to provide policymakers information about the overall effectiveness of the probation system. “In these fiscally demanding times, we cannot afford to send property and drug offenders to prison for just a few weeks or months and return them to the community with no support or supervision.” Sen. Bill Seitz (R-Green Township) said. “People who commit these nonviolent crimes should face mandatory supervision in the community. We need to hold them accountable for their offenses, get them the services they need to address the addictions and behaviors that contributed to their involvement in the criminal justice system, and save our prison space for violent and other serious, repeat offenders.” The report is a product of the state’s “justice reinvestment” work to reduce corrections spending and reinvest in strategies that can increase public safety. It is based on an analysis of crime, sentencing, probation, prison growth, and post-release supervision trends. The report and assistance provided by the CSG Justice Center was made possible through partnerships with the Pew Public Safety Performance Project, the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the State of Ohio. “Many of those who commit crime are eventually supervised by a municipal, county, or state probation agency in Ohio,” State Rep. Mike Moran (D-Hudson) said. “This report makes it clear that we can reduce crime by strengthening our probation system and focusing supervision and treatment programs on those who would otherwise be most likely to reoffend. Applying our criminal justice resources where they will have the strongest impact makes sense for public safety and for fiscal responsibility.” The report is being discussed in detail at today’s policy conference in Columbus where state leaders from the judicial, executive, and legislative branches will provide reactions. Three national criminal justice experts from the CSG Justice Center and the University of Cincinnati will deliver in-depth presentations on the key areas of the report, and two panels of criminal justice stakeholders from across Ohio will offer their perspectives. In the months immediately following the conference, the working group will use the report as a basis to begin developing a policy framework that can increase public safety, lower recidivism, and reduce spending on corrections. For a copy of the report, please visit http://justicereinvestment.org/states/ohio/pubmaps-oh at 12:00 pm. For more information on the justice reinvestment process, see www.justicereinvestment.org. Media Contacts:
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Senator Bill Seitz: Jessica Crews (614) 466 - 8068 Jessica.Crews@senate.state.oh.us Representative Mike Moran Patti Pollitt (614) 466 - 1177 Patti.Pollitt@ohr.state.oh.us Council of State Governments Justice Center Martha Plotkin (240) 482 - 8579 mplotkin@csg.org
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