This is The Marshall Project - Cleveland’s newsletter, a twice monthly digest of criminal justice news from around Ohio gathered by our staff of local journalists. Want this delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to future newsletters.
Cuyahoga County juvenile judges tapped private defense attorneys who lacked qualifications
Today, we published our most recent examination of juvenile defense in Cuyahoga County. We found more than 1,200 children since 2020 who were accused of serious crimes were defended by attorneys who didn’t have the legal training required by the state.
Judges and court staff picked these private attorneys to represent children accused of crimes whose families were unable to pay for a lawyer. Court administrators maintain that the appointed attorneys were experienced and reliable. It’s tough to find lawyers for cases, the administrators say, with a state system that ties taxpayer reimbursement to training and trial experience.
Nonetheless, court officials are starting to follow the rules — at least some of them. Following our previous reporting, which found that judges picked a handful of private attorneys to defend most cases of children accused of crimes, officials created a new position responsible for tracking assignments and qualifications.
As we were reporting this story, court officials started checking attorney qualifications and deemed some ineligible to represent kids in some serious cases, such as murders, due to a lack of continuing legal education courses or trial experience.
We started asking questions because community members were asking whether kids were getting the best possible defense. The jury is still out, but we did find that when facing a transfer to adult court, kids with court-appointed private attorneys, regardless of whether they met the state qualifications, fared worse than those represented by public defenders, who are employed by the county.
– Doug Livingston and Rachel Dissell
State to close Cuyahoga Hills Juvenile Correctional Facility
Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Juvenile Justice Working Group announced what they’re calling “transformational changes across Ohio’s state and local juvenile justice system.”
The group says the Ohio Department of Youth Services should replace its three large detention centers with numerous smaller facilities. The first to close would be the 180-bed Cuyahoga Hills Juvenile Correctional Facility in Highland Hills. It will be replaced with four 36-bed buildings with specialized units, DeWine announced in a news release.
DeWine and the justice group are also urging ODYS to create community correctional facilities in Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton counties because “youth are closer to home and better connected with family, which generally leads to better outcomes upon release.”
The justice group and DeWine also made numerous other recommendations. For a national perspective on the juvenile justice detention crisis, read our piece here.
– Mark Puente
Take our survey and let’s talk
As Election Day approaches, The Marshall Project - Cleveland is looking for opportunities for our team to connect with readers for in-person talks about the role journalism plays in sparking community discussions.
To do so, we’d like to hear what you think might be beneficial to the Cleveland community.
Town hall to focus on Ohio’s driver’s license suspension crisis
The Marshall Project - Cleveland is co-sponsoring a town hall to help residents better understand the driver’s license suspension crisis impacting tens of thousands of Ohio residents, many of whom lost their driving privileges because of unpaid fines and fees.
The event begins at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, at Maple Heights High School, 1 Mustang Way. State officials will offer resources on how residents can restore their license as well as updates on proposed laws designed to stem the number of people impacted.
Around the 216
- Cleveland saw nearly as many police officers resign or retire in a year as Columbus and Cincinnati combined. Cleveland.com
- Report finds Ohio school-to-prison pipeline is bolstered by ‘exclusionary discipline’ and absenteeism. Cleveland Scene
- Ohio should stop sending children under age 14 to the state's youth prisons, report suggests. Columbus Dispatch
