CLEVELAND — The Greater Cleveland Congregations held a public hearing to discuss discretionary juvenile bindover. Juvenile bindover is when a person under the age of 18 is transferred from the juvenile system to the adult system.
Ben Sperry, with Greater Cleveland Congregations, explained how this affects Cuyahoga County.
Sperry said, according to GCC’s research, 91% of the youth being bound over in Cuyahoga County are Black and brown kids.
“Black and brown children are being treated much more harshly here than other children,” he said.
Their research also said that Cuyahoga County has the largest amount of youth being bound over per capita than any other county in the state of Ohio. Sperry said that he and GCC are trying to fix this.
“We’ve just gotten distributed about it and we have looked to the public offices in the county that have responsibility for this and trying to find out why and you know, engage those offices in some way to get explanations and then see if we can work towards reform,” he said.
The research concluded that kids who are put into the adult system are more likely to be sexually assaulted, mistreated, and become isolated. Sperry said juvenile prison is more about rehabilitation, where adult prison is more about punishment.
“You put a child in with adults, you are exposing them to all kinds of risks,” he said.
Greater Cleveland Congregations want to find a reform on this problem and work with the county to decline these numbers
