COLLATERAL SANCTIONS

  • There are 2,679 Collateral consequences between State of Ohio & federal sanctions preventing people from work, housing, education, licensing, insurance and more.

JUVENILE JUSTICE

  • In the last decade, 673 children had their cases bound over to the adult prison system in Cuyahoga county, This is 200-243% higher than Franklin and Hamilton Counties. 94% were Black.

DEATH PENALTY REPEAL IN OHIO - 2022

  • Capital punishment is inequitable, inhumane, and ineffective. It has far more to do with geography, money, and race than anything resembling justice.

  • The death penalty is at least three times more expensive than other sentencing options, costing Ohio taxpayers as much as $16 million dollars per case.  In addition to being costly and arbitrary, the death  penalty is also unpopular among Ohioans. A statewide opinion poll conducted by The Tarrance Group in October 2020, revealed that 59% of Ohioans support replacing the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole.

  • Building Freedom Ohio is fighting to abolish the death penalty in Ohio.

SENTENCING REFORM

  • For decades, Ohio politicians sought to be “tough on crime” by increasing criminal penalties.  Prisons designed to house 38,000 people hold almost 51,000.

  • Building Freedom Ohio is fighting to reduce the prison population through sentencing reform

PAROLE REFORM-2022-2025

  • The requirement to register as a violent offender for 10 years; the Incarceration of individuals on parole status in absence of a duly adjudicated new case.

  • Building Freedom Ohio is fighting to reform Parole Boards and the Adult Parole Authority.

END CASH BAIL

  • Ohio’s reliance on cash bail disproportionately punishes and targets Black people and other people of color as well as people from economically disadvantaged communities.  We can’t end mass incarceration without ending the bail system as we know it.

  • Building Freedom Ohio is organizing in partnership with key legal advocacy groups to end cash bail in Ohio.

POLICE OVERSIGHT

Campaigns

  • Grassroots leaders in Cleveland and Dayton have been organizing and demanding for community safety and police oversight.

  • Grassroots leaders are running campaigns to strengthen community voice in police oversight and community based public safety initiatives.

JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY

  • In Hamilton County 11 new progressive judges unseated incumbent judges in a number of county divisions.

  • After years of racially and economically discriminatory policies we have an opportunity to radically transform how county courtrooms are administered.

PROSECUTOR ACCOUNTABILITY

  • In Franklin County there is a new County Prosecutor who unseated the 24 year incumbent. After years of high profile incidents of police killing Black men and boys in Columbus as well as a culture of racism and the criminalization of poverty, there are opportunities to radically transform the way the county prosecutor’s office is administered.