Through The Buckeye Institute’s continued and effective leadership and commitment to comprehensively reforming criminal justice, Ohio is becoming a more just and safer place to live—as well as a model for other states on how most effectively to advance criminal justice reforms.

Let’s take a look at how Buckeye advanced these meaningful reforms for Ohioans.

SPN: What was your project?

Buckeye: Since 2014, The Buckeye Institute has built the nation’s most successful criminal justice reform effort. In just seven years, Ohio has passed more significant criminal justice reform legislation than any other state in the country. No other think tank in America has achieved more consequential results to protect the rights of the accused, rehabilitate offenders, and reduce the cost to taxpayers of the criminal justice system than The Buckeye Institute, including:

• Criminal intent (mens rea) reform, which assures that mistakes in legislative drafting as well as otherwise unintentional violations of the law do not result in innocent people being convicted or going to jail (adopted in 2014);
• Civil asset forfeiture reform, which in most cases now requires that individuals actually be convicted of a crime before the state can permanently seize their property (adopted in 2016);
• Targeted Community Alternatives to Prison (TCAP), which is a comprehensive program to shift low-level felony offenders to local rehabilitation programs rather than into state prisons (adopted in 2017 and expanded in 2021);
• Certificate of Qualification for Employment (CQE) program, which allows individuals with criminal records to apply for relief from onerous occupational license restrictions that would otherwise inhibit their ability to make a living after they have served their time (adopted in 2017);
• Probation reform, which placed restrictions on punishment for technical violations of parole (adopted in 2017);
• Bail reform, which creates a presumption against cash bail by requiring Ohio courts to utilize the least restrictive conditions of release to ensure public safety and that defendants appear in court (adopted in 2020; further enhancements currently moving through the Ohio General Assembly); and
• Sentencing reform, which gives judges more discretion to place low-level, non-violent defendants in rehabilitation intervention programs in lieu of conviction, and expands record sealing for former offenders (adopted in 2020).

Through these tremendous and compounding reforms, The Buckeye Institute laid the foundation for even more future success and reforms to come in the years ahead. Throughout 2016 and 2017, The Buckeye Institute spent hundreds of hours advising Ohio’s Criminal Justice Recodification Committee, which was tasked by the Ohio Legislature to review the state’s entire criminal code line-by-line and develop recommendations to make Ohio safer and more just. The result was nearly 4,000 pages of draft legislation, which now serves as the template for future reform legislation.

Building on its incredible track record of success in achieving criminal justice reform in Ohio, The Buckeye Institute also led the fight to reform Ohio’s broken cash bail system. After releasing its well-regarded and popular report, “‘Money Bail’: Making Ohio a More Dangerous Place to Live,” The Buckeye Institute worked with policymakers on additional reforms that would move Ohio away from an arbitrary cash bail system and give judges more flexibility and more information to detain dangerous defendants before trial. In another report, “The Ohio Model for Bail Reform: Retaining Local Flexibility and Saving Money,” The Buckeye Institute estimated that bail reform could save Ohio communities an estimated $67 million a year in jail costs. The Buckeye Institute’s effort on this front is a nationwide trendsetter in reforming the arbitrary cash bail system.

SPN: How was this campaign intended to boost your brand?

Buckeye: Recognized by Ohio legislators as a principled and honest partner, The Buckeye Institute has been able to work across the partisan divide to bring needed reform to Ohio’s criminal justice system in a way that is unique and effective and has provided tremendous value to the criminal justice reform community nationally.

Buckeye often receives requests from both Republicans and Democrats for expert opinions on criminal justice reform efforts, and—at the personal request of legislators—Buckeye has testified on major reform efforts and proposals and convinced legislators on both sides of the aisle about the merits of our reform ideas.

Buckeye’s criminal justice reform efforts have enabled Buckeye to work with a coalition of people and organizations from across the political and ideological spectrum. Buckeye brings together generally opposing groups and strange bedfellows, consistently getting them to the table to talk in a way that no other legislator or group has been able to do in Ohio. Through these broad coalition efforts and with Buckeye’s remarkable expertise on the issues, Ohio has passed more, and more significant, criminal justice reform legislation than any other state in the country.

Events with well-known Ohioans, star athletes and minor celebrities, policymakers, and practitioners have also been instrumental in Buckeye’s efforts. One particular event of note featured former national champion Ohio State University running back Maurice Clarett, who after being convicted turned his life around and became a nationally-recognized advocate for criminal justice reform. Having such a well-known popular athlete boosted Buckeye’s media attention and expanded its audience further into the general public.

SPN: How did your audience engage with your brand before this project? How do they engage now?

Buckeye: Buckeye’s tireless work, unmatched policy credibility, and demonstrable results have combined to reinforce our reputation as a national leader on criminal justice reform. Due to our efforts on this issue, Republicans, Democrats, left-leaning organizations, and the media regularly seek out Buckeye’s leadership, input, and expertise on any criminal justice reform issues they are considering.

Policymakers and advocates in Ohio know: if it is a criminal justice reform issue, Buckeye’s stamp of approval is necessary to move the ball.

SPN: What would you do differently or the same if you did this project again?

Buckeye: Our strategic approach, dedication to building and leading a bipartisan coalition, and achieving success one issue at a time to leverage each victory toward the next has proven to be the right approach for accomplishing our criminal justice reform goals.

Powerful special interests in Ohio that benefit from the status quo in Ohio’s criminal justice system have tried to position themselves as the only thing keeping dangerous criminals off the streets. In order to expose the weakness in those type of claims, Buckeye has consistently produced credible, independent, and academic-quality research to form the backbone of our policy recommendations, and also simultaneously convened a bipartisan coalition to combat the injustice and ineffectiveness plaguing Ohio’s broken system.

Buckeye relentlessly leverages not only its individual policy experts, but also its nationally-recognized criminal justice guru and CEO Robert Alt. Alt, an accomplished and visionary scholar and expert in all varieties of criminal justice reform, is regularly sought out for his counsel and expertise. He has spoken at countless events, briefed policymakers at the local, state, and national level, and has advised other groups working on criminal justice reform issues on how to achieve the results we have in Ohio. He also writes the Federalist Society’s annual whitepaper review of criminal justice reforms in the states.

Alt founded The Buckeye Institute’s Legal Center in 2016, which focuses on criminal justice and other constitutional issues, and he was the catalyst in building the motley coalition that successfully worked to pass mens rea reform for Ohio in 2014. He testifies in support of the reforms Buckeye proposes and works to win over any skeptical lawmakers, one at a time, through effective persuasion and personal attention. He has spoken about the dire need for criminal justice reform at the state level as well as Ohio’s accomplishments to groups from the Federalist Society to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL).

Buckeye’s relentless bipartisan approach, cooperative attitude including forbidding any political attacks on policymakers and opponents personally, and tireless around-the-clock confidential and public availability to lawmakers and their staffs, have built tremendous goodwill with those same policymakers, advocacy groups, and lobbyists.

For its successful campaign to secure criminal justice reforms in Ohio, The Buckeye Institute is a finalist in State Policy Network’s Communications Excellence Awards, in the Bold Brand Boost Award category.