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What Do You Want to Know About Criminal Courts in Cleveland?

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Cleveland Police arrests and investigations made up the largest share – 46% – of cases in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court from 2016 through 2021. The Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s office, which operates the county jail and has jurisdiction countywide, had the next highest number of cases,
Several state agencies make arrests that result in criminal cases, Ohio State Highway Patrol cases primarily stem from traffic stops, including gun and drug charges, State of Ohio cases include “escape” charges for people who are accused of violating conditions of parole supervision, like missing a check-in meeting or having a positive drug screen,
The size of a city or a police agency doesn’t necessarily match up with the number of criminal cases filed with the court. For instance, the East Cleveland Police Department, which patrols a town of about 14,000 residents and has about 40 sworn officers, contributed more cases than larger departments from cities with more residents – like Lakewood, which has 50,000 residents and 90 officers,

Felony cases filed against children under 18 were less than 1% of all Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court criminal cases from 2016 through 2021. More than 10 times the number of cases were filed against Black minors than against White ones in the past seven years,
The more than 420 cases filed in the adult court against minors aged 14 through 17 are mostly bindovers, a process where a case is transferred from the juvenile court to the adult court The process occurs either because it is mandatory under Ohio law or because a juvenile judge orders a discretionary transfer of the case,
Eligibility for bindover is based on the age a child was at the time a crime was reported, but the transfer process can take time, That means the child may be older when the case is filed in the adult court, which is what is counted here, For instance, one child was charged with robbery in 2020 when they were 14, By the time the case was transferred to adult court 9 months later, they had turned 15,
Once a child under 18 is convicted in an adult court case, any new felony cases are filed against them as if they were adults,

Felony cases filed in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas from 2016 through 2021 were most often against people who were between the ages of 25 and 34 years old at time the court case started. This includes people who had multiple cases filed against them in those years.