VOICES: Issue 1 will help victims, high-crime communities

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters.

Issue 1 is not complicated. Do you believe judges in Ohio should be required to consider the safety of our communities when setting bail?

What is complicated is unpacking the heap of misinformation sent out by the ACLU and other activist groups against Issue 1. It is important that voters know the truth before casting their ballots.

Does cash bail punish poverty?

Cash bail does not punish poverty. Violent crime punishes poverty.

Crime skews towards our poorer neighborhoods. This is not a comment on the character of most people in these areas, but simply a discernable fact. The vast majority of people in our high-crime communities are just good people, doing the best they can, trying to raise their families. But allowing dangerous, violent criminals out on bond continues the cycles of poverty and violence and will never allow these communities to thrive.

Mothers should not have to fear their children playing in their front yard, or playing at the park, or walking to the school bus. But they do – and for good reason. I have seen countless young men turn from victim to defendant. And that is because trauma and PTSD, coupled with watching criminals get out of jail without consequence is a recipe for creating future criminals.

Our victims will never heal if their offenders are back on the street. Over time, this changes the fabric of a neighborhood. We cannot expect these communities to solve their problems if we are not supporting them by removing the cancer.

Can judges already consider public safety when setting bail?

No. The Supreme Court of Ohio in the DuBose decision directly stated courts cannot consider public safety when setting cash bail.

Can judges hold defendants in jail without bail if they are a public safety risk?

Opponents of Issue 1 attempt to confuse voters by arguing that all defendants are eligible for pretrial detention. However, this simply is not true. And even if it were, pretrial detention hearings create an unacceptable and unnecessary safety risk to our victims and witnesses of crime.

To hold a defendant without bail, the court must conduct a hearing. These hearings allow defendants to subpoena and harass victims and witnesses of crimes. For our victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse (especially our child victims), the trauma of being forced to re-live what happened to them is excruciating. The idea that they should be forced onto the stand just so a judge can determine bail is outrageous.

The law severely restricts the types of offenses that are eligible for “no bail.” Notably, the following offenses are not included: Domestic Violence, Sexual Battery, Gross Sexual Imposition, Unlawful Sexual Conduct with a Minor, Escape, Intimidation of Witnesses, many Robbery offenses, many Burglary offenses, Making Terroristic Threats.

Does cash bail cause poor defendants to languish in jail for years?

No. On felony offenses, the State has 90 days to try their case. If prosecutors don’t try their case in 90 days, it gets dismissed. If a case survives to the 91st day, it is because the defendant requested it be continued.

Cases are continued for years by defendants as a strategic matter. The older a case is, the harder it is to prove; witnesses get lost, police retire, victims become disillusioned with the process or are intimidated. And the likelihood of dismissal goes up.

Our victims and high-crime communities deserve better than the society the Supreme Court is trying to create.

Joseph T. Deters is the Hamilton County Prosecutor.

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