We published a story highlighting a new report that calls into question whether children in the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Justice system are getting the best possible representation.
The report also raises questions about whether the private attorneys judges pick to represent children meet state qualifications to handle the cases.
Wren Collective, a policy group, compiled the report, looking at records and data and conducting a series of interviews with Cuyahoga County officials in the public defender’s office and the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court.
The group focused on the representation of Cuyahoga County’s children in part because Signal Cleveland reported on the issue earlier this year. In January, the Cuyahoga County Public Defender requested that his office get more juvenile cases saying they had the ability to take on more cases.
The Public Defender’s office asked the court to assign it to more cases instead of private attorneys, arguing the office had more support, including social workers and investigators. The court agreed to pick the office for more cases but did not agree it should automatically represent children in the detention center or who face transfer to adult court.
Community advocates with Greater Cleveland Congregations (GCC) have also asked the juvenile courts to assign the public defender’s office more cases – and we’ve been following those community efforts as well.
We’ll continue to follow this issue, including whether the state acts on the Wren Collective’s recommendations that it stop reimbursing the county until changes are made.
Thanks for reading.
