The ACLU of Ohio is committed to raising awareness of the harms caused by the pretrial system and cash bail, and urging lawmakers, judges, and others to adopt fair reforms.
Local officials, including judges, court staff, police departments, and prosecutors, have immense power over the pretrial system. Your advocacy at the city and county level can drastically improve outcomes for individuals and their loved ones going through the pretrial process. See below for a menu of reforms you may want to push for.
A Fair and Standard Process:
- Courts should not rely on bond schedules to determine release.
Conditions of release must be determined after an individualized hearing within 48 hours of arrest (with a lawyer present).
Fair Conditions of Release:
- Courts should release most people with no or minimal conditions (in some circumstances, condition of release can simply be a phone call or text reminder of an upcoming court date).
- Judges must provide recorded justification for imposing cash bail.
- People shouldn’t be released on unnecessary or intrusive conditions (i.e. drug tests for people not accused of drug crimes).
- Inability to afford a means of release, such as electronic monitoring or drug testing, should not disqualify them from pretrial release.
Effective Pretrial Services:
- Every county must have a pretrial services program. Pretrial services do things like set up call or text reminders for court dates, and collect information for the courts to use to best determine conditions of release.
- Pretrial services more effectively structure and inform judicial decision making. It can also direct people to the help or resources they need at the time of booking or shortly after.
Accountability and Commitment to Reforms:
- Courts must collect and send accurate and consistent pretrial data to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Authentic Collaboration:
- Too often, policy decisions about our courts and prisons happen without the consideration of those most deeply affected. We must see authentic community involvement in the pretrial process, policy creation, and public education on the changes to the cash bail system.
Read the flowchart Ohio’s Cash Bail System: Current vs. Proposed for more information.
To learn more about all our work, please visit the ACLU of Ohio’s homepage.