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New inmates at the Cuyahoga County Jail are searched in the hallway after booking and before moving them to the intake pod on Wednesday, June 27, 2012.
(Lynn Ischay, The Plain Dealer)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland Municipal Court has signed an agreement with the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to implement a new system for setting bail more fairly, according to court spokesman Ed Ference.
The Houston-based foundation developed its nationally recognized risk-assessment formula to help judges better gauge whether a defendant will show up for court or commit a crime while awaiting trial.
Foundation and Cleveland court officials have been in discussions since this summer, when they first met to consider partnering on bail reform. The Common Pleas Court in Lucas County already uses the foundation's system.
The formula takes nine factors into consideration, including the age and criminal history of a defendant, as well as their potential for violence.
In Cuyahoga County, judges in 13 municipal courts are generally the first to set bail for people accused of crimes. Judges in some of those courts have told cleveland.com that they are forced to err on the side of caution and set high bail amounts because they lack timely access to information about defendants.
In an effort at bail reform, Cleveland's municipal court recently started to free people accused of non-violent crimes without bail. It's unclear how that policy will be affected by adoption of the Arnold Foundation assessment tool.
Lucas County Common Pleas Court Judge Gene Zmuda said last August that as a result of the Arnold Foundation system, the court was releasing more defendants on personal bond, instead of requiring them to post bail, and that the county was resolving cases faster and saving money as a result.
Lucas County also reported that after one year, the percentage of people who missed court dates dropped from 41 percent to 29 percent, Arnold Foundation official Matt Alsdorf said in August.
Meanwhile, Alsdorf said, defendants who committed crimes while awaiting trial decreased from 20 percent to 10 percent, and those re-arrested for committing violent crimes dropped from 5 percent to 3 percent.
As of last August, the Arnold Foundation assessment was in use, or was about to be, in about 30 jurisdictions. San Francisco later announced it was adopting the tool.
Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Ron Adrine became convinced of the need for bail reform after hearing Arnold Foundation officials at a seminar last year and learning how judges in Washington, D.C., had ended needless jail stays by eliminating the use of bonds.
Bail-reform advocates believe courts rely too much on bonds, which result in poor defendants remaining in jail as wealthier defendants are released to await their next court date.
In Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, where felonies are handled, Administrative Judge John J. Russo has created four committees to study bail reform. He said the committees are still in fact-finding mode and that the next meeting of committee heads is Jan. 25.