Public Performance Partners, Inc. (P3) was retained by the Franklin County Criminal Justice Planning Board (FCCJPB) to help county leaders understand bail practices currently in place across the county – especially in the Franklin County Municipal Court (FCMC), the effect of these practices on the Franklin County Corrections Centers (FCCC) and outcomes related to failure to appear (FTA) and new criminal activity while on bail, and recommendations to improve pretrial outcomes in Franklin County.
To accomplish this deliverable, P3 collected data from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO) and the Franklin County Municipal Clerk of Courts (FCMCoC), conducted secondary and primary research on the latest best practices across Ohio and the country to improve pretrial outcomes, and conducted dozens of interviews and meetings with criminal justice leadership in Franklin County and the City of Columbus, including fourteen municipal judges, three common pleas judges and one magistrate, four pretrial services leaders/managers/supervisors, four officials from the City of Columbus Prosecutor’s Office and Franklin County Public Defender, and three officials from FCSO.
Key Recommendations
Franklin County can learn from the best practices laid out in our report, from other jurisdictions in Ohio and across the country to improve pretrial outcomes by:
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Replacing the 15 municipal judge arraignment rotation with a team of dedicated magistrates responsible for carrying out FCMC’s pretrial policy.
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Providing more information to these magistrates (or judges) at arraignment.
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Assessing the risk of non-violent felony defendants prior to arraignment in FCMC.
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Screening 100% of predisposition misdemeanor bookings.
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Incorporating pre-arraignment risk screening into the booking process.
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Bringing FCMC and FCCPC judges and magistrates together in dialog around bail best practices.
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Expanding investment in efforts to reduce failure to appear in the FCMC.
Click here to read a white paper outlining findings and recommendations from the final report.