More information on the role of police, prosecutors and judges.
Activist Tip #1
Your target: police
Reform:
- End the use of consensual searches, which are inherently coercive.
- Ban pretextual stops, in which officers stop individuals for minor violations as an excuse to investigate a separate suspected offense for which they don’t have legal authority.
- Train dispatchers and officers to recognize situations that would be better handled by a mental health care expert, as opposed to an arrest.
- Issue a citation or summons for certain offenses, instead of arresting the person and taking them to jail.
Tactics:
- Meetings with police officials
- Meetings with city council members or mayoral staff to put pressure on police department
Activist Tip #2
Your target: Prosecutors
Reform:
- Stop seeking financial conditions (cash bail) for individuals accused of certain offenses.
- Cease pursuing charges for certain marijuana offenses.
- Do not seek detention unless absolutely necessary, and if able to prove via clear and convincing evidence that no condition or set of conditions exists to mitigate risk and clear and convincing evidence exists as to the risk of willful flight or imminent threat of serious harm to a reasonably identifiable person or group of persons.
Tactics:
- Meetings with prosecutor’s office
- Media pressure: op-eds, letters to the editor, social media
Activist Tip #3
Your target: Judges
Reform:
- Immediately release all people who owe less than a certain amount in money bond.
- Broaden the offenses for which individuals will be released without conditions (personal/own recognizance).
- Document on the record a justification for whatever conditions (financial or otherwise) were imposed.
- Stop charging people for the cost of ankle monitors, drug testing, etc. while released pretrial.
- Conduct inquiry into present ability to pay prior to ordering money bond.
- Conduct a bail hearing within 48 hours of the person’s booking, and provide a public defender at the hearing.
Tactics:
- Meetings with judges
- Media pressure: op-eds, letters to the editor, social media
Your target: Court Officials
Reform:
- Implement texting and calling information to remind people of their court dates.
- Issue quarterly reports to the public showing aggregated pretrial case information such as: 1) conditions of bail, 2) demographic information (including race, gender, and LGBTQ status), 3) length of time spent in jail prior to release, 4) current risk assessment scores and evaluation (if using such a tool), 5) compliance with conditions of bail, and 6) eventual case outcomes.
- Stop charging people for the cost of ankle monitors, drug testing, etc. while released pretrial.
Tactics:
- Meetings with clerk of courts or other court staff
- Media pressure: op-eds, letters to the editor, social media
Activist Tip #4
Your target: State Legislature
Reform:
- Budget funds for pretrial services.
- Budget funds for data collection.
- Decriminalize simple drug possession or, at the very least, reclassify it as a misdemeanor.
- Legalize marijuana.
- Prohibit private pretrial profiteering and the imposition of fees to facilitate or maintain release.
- Pass legislation creating a presumption of inability to pay for conditions for people who receive public benefits, broadly defined.
- Require counsel for people accused of crimes at their initial appearance, especially where bail decisions are made.
Tactics:
- Direct contact with state legislators on the Ohio House Criminal Justice or Senate Judiciary Committees: emails, letters, calls, visits
- Media pressure: op-eds, letters to the editor, social media
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