1. Sara Andrews, Director – Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission
Sentencing Matters - the impact and future of the Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission and Ohio Criminal Justice Recodification Committee.
Presented by
Sara Andrews, Director – Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission
October 9, 2015
OJACC Conference

2. History, evolution and future of sentencing and criminal justice policy reform from both the Commission and Committee perspective.
How the Commission and Committee work in tandem to enhance public safety, advance sound, succinct statutory guidance and strengthen criminal justice reform in Ohio.

3. The General Assembly created the Sentencing Commission in Ohio Revised Code § through to:
Study Ohio’s criminal laws, sentencing patterns, and juvenile offender dispositions;
Review correctional resources and make cost-effective proposals;

4. Make recommendations to the General Assembly that:
encourage public safety
proportionality
uniformity
certainty
judicial discretion
deterrence
fairness
simplification
more sentencing options, victims’ rights and other reasonable goals

5. The Commission is the only long-term state agency designed, by statute, to bring judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys together with members of the General Assembly, state and local officials, victims, and law enforcement officers.

6. Ohio Criminal Justice Recodification Committee was created by the 130th Ohio General Assembly to study the state's existing criminal statutes, with the goal of enhancing public safety and the administration of criminal justice throughout the state of Ohio.

7. The Ohio Criminal Justice Recodification Committee is a bi-partisan body composed of twenty four individuals with extensive experience in criminal justice, law enforcement, and public safety. 
The Committee must present a comprehensive plan for revising Ohio's Criminal Code to the state General Assembly by August 1, 2016.

8. Criminal Justice Reform Ideas: Common Ground
“To attain the goals to simplify, clarify, provide for proportionality and fairness, to protect and serve all Ohioans, for the revised comprehensive plan for the 2016 Ohio Criminal Code.

9. The Criminal Justice system gets its authority from the mandate of the People. Only through maintaining a system that renders fair and equitable judgment will it maintain that mandate.
A criminal code that is clear and understandable, with penalties that are just and proportional to the criminal acts of the accused, forms the framework of that system”.*
*creating Framework for Reform, the Honorable Fred Pepple

10. The Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission Vision: To enhance justice
Mission: To ensure fair sentencing in the State of Ohio

11. Senate President Keith Faber
As many as 100 million American adults now have a criminal record. That's one-third of our country.
“Swing for the fences!”
Senate President Keith Faber

12. Bipartisan, creative solutions – beyond simplification and modernizing the Revised Code – it’s about people, it’s about over-penalization, crowded prisons, mental health, drug addiction and sentencing.

13. Sentencing Commission: Committee Recodification: Workgroups by Chapter
Getting it done:
Sentencing Commission: Committee
Recodification: Workgroups by Chapter
Varying degrees of external participation
Work product and accessibility
Routine collaboration, consult & updates

14. Identify issues
Foster conversation
Achieve consensus
Effectuate Change
Meaningful outcomes
Safer Communities

15. Common vision and notable mutual issues
Intervention in Lieu of Conviction
Diversion Options for Non-Violent Offenders
Sex Offender Registration
Expungement & Sealing of Records
Penalties for Probation Violators
Measured, Proportional Responses
Smart Use of Resources

16. Recodification Committee ends August 2016 Draft proposals from work groups due end of this calendar year. Public comment expected in Spring 2016.
Sentencing Commission ongoing work on many issues. Juvenile Justice and Rights Restoration proposals end of the calendar year.

17. And, then what?
The evolution to a broader-based Ohio Criminal Justice Commission is expected.
A Criminal Justice Commission can tackle a wide range of criminal justice issues, provide an ongoing forum for judges, practitioners, partners and others to debate policy initiatives and serve the citizens of the great State of Ohio.

18. Sara Andrews, Director
65 South Front Street, 5th Floor
Columbus, Ohio 43215