Ohio Issue 1: New Law Lets Judges Set High Bail
Did you know Ohio judges aren’t supposed to consider the potential risk to public safety when setting bail? Judge Steven Mowery spoke out to the Scioto County Daily News about the issue earlier this week.
“It’s interesting because we’ve got this issue on the ballot this year on November 8 to let the judges use public safety as a factor in setting bond.” He said that consideration is currently not in Ohio’s rules for setting bond. “The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that judges cannot consider public safety as an element for bond.”
But all of that could change on November 8 – that’s if Ohio voters approve an amendment to the state’s constitution. Issue One would –
- Require Ohio courts, when setting the amount of bail, to consider public safety, including the seriousness of the offense, as well as a person’s criminal record, the likelihood a person will return to court, and any other factor the Ohio General Assembly may prescribe.
- Remove the requirement that the procedures for establishing the amount and conditions of bail be determined by the Supreme Court of Ohio.
Right now, judges can consider the seriousness of the current offense and the likelihood the person will appear in court but not overall public safety. According to Judge Mowery, that means if a person has 77 arrests, but the 78th is a misdemeanor, the judge must determine bond on the basis of the misdemeanor charge.
However, opponents of the bill say that judges already have the discretion to keep potentially dangerous offenders in jail and the ACLU even called the amendment “deeply misguided.”
They refer to the Ohio revised code which does state, “Bail shall be fixed with consideration of the seriousness of the offense charged, the previous criminal record of the defendant, and the probability of the defendant appearing at the trial of the case.”
However, a ruling earlier in the year by the Ohio Supreme Court seems to contradict this law and says that public safety cannot be considered when deciding on the amount of bail. Instead, judges should only consider how much money is likely to stop the suspect from skipping out of court.
If passed, this law seems to put the decision squarely in the hands of legislators.
