Proposal Expanding Scope of Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission

 The Supreme Court’s news service last week related Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor’s proposing to  significantly extent the scope of the Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission, advocating expanding the commission “into a larger, more comprehensive entity that can work to help all of the state’s justice system partners … to combat crime in our state in an inter-related, multi-dimensional way” --- also changing its name to the Ohio Criminal Justice Commission.

  Chief Justice O’Connor indicated that “for many years, we have seen different organizations take on a sliver of the larger criminal justice pie, only to lament that their focus was too limited or did not include a review of other issues that tie into the issue which they were reviewing,”

  While requiring legislative approval, under the proposal, the new Criminal Justice Commission would continue to address sentencing but would also take on related issues such as probation and risk assessment, juvenile justice, data collection and sharing, domestic violence, specialized dockets, access to legal representation, and traffic issues.