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Juvenile Justice Initiative

Juvenile detention reform in Ohio (November 2010)
(Source: Juvenile Justice Coalition)

With support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Cincinnati Bar Foundation, the Children's Defense Fund of Ohio, the Children's Law Center, Inc., the Juvenile Justice Coalition - Ohio and Voices for Ohio's Children are collaborating to increase awareness and support among key stakeholders and the general public for juvenile pretrial detention reform in Ohio with the release of two documents: Rethinking Juvenile Detention in Ohio Issue Brief outlining the current research and impact of juvenile pre-trial detention and
Juvenile Detention Reform in Ohio Fact Sheet. Both documents support the adoption of alternatives that will keep youth out of pretrial detention whenever possible, while maintaining community safety.

Research shows that:

• Pretrial detention is an expensive option that does little to help juveniles or keep the community safe.
• Detention reform saves scarce public dollars and redirects resources toward more cost-effective, community-based alternatives to confinement.
• Jurisdictions employing detention alternatives have found reductions in the following: juvenile crime, the number of youth in long-term incarceration, costs associated with the juvenile justice system, and disproportionate minority contact.

Ronald Browder, Executive Director of the Children's Defense Fund - Ohio, said, "It is time to move beyond the research findings and begin to implement the alternatives that have been proven to make a positive impact on both the youth and community."

Five Ohio counties are participating in the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), a nationally recognized model created by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to promote detention reform. The model is being implemented in Ohio under the leadership of the juvenile courts in Cuyahoga, Franklin, Lucas, Montgomery and Summit counties and the Ohio Department of Youth Services. This initiative is an opportunity to improve the front-end of the juvenile justice system based on research and evidence-informed practices, as part of larger juvenile justice reforms in Ohio.

"The Juvenile Justice Coalition believes that by implementing the JDAI in Ohio, we will make great progress in improving our juvenile justice system, since the initiative starts at the entry point," explained Sharon Weitzenhof, the Director of the Juvenile Justice Coalition.

"Implementing counties will have a chance to take leadership in Ohio by developing innovative and collaborative methods to reach the JDAI goals with the support of the expertise from the Annie E. Casey Foundation," said Angela Chang, staff attorney for the JDAI Defender Project, Children's Law Center. "JDAI is a unique process that will also bring together parties that may have been historically adversarial to the table to work together collaboratively to reach these common goals in their communities."

The policy brief and accompanying fact sheet highlight JDAI's goals of reducing over-reliance on juvenile pretrial detention without jeopardizing public safety, obtaining better outcomes for youth through better assessment and alternatives, promoting effective legal representation at the detention hearing stage, and reducing over-representation of youth from communities of color in the system.

Hard copies may also be obtained by contacting Barbara Turpin at 614-221-2244 or bturpin@cdfohio.org.

To learn more about Voices efforts in Juvenile Justice, contact Yvonne Hunnicutt at 216-881-7860 or yhunnicutt@vfc-oh.org.