Thursday, September 30, 2010

Editorial: For Common Pleas Court

 

Four candidates offer talent and energy for county's judiciary

 

Domestic Relations Judge Kim A. Browne should be retained. She was appointed to the seat by Gov. Bob Taft in 2002 and then was elected later that year to complete the unexpired term. She won election to a full term in 2004. She is the lead juvenile judge. Browne's resume includes work with the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, and she is an adjunct professor...at Ohio Dominican University. Earlier this year, she strongly supported a bill allowing juveniles to petition the court for protection orders to help them resist dating violence. That law went into effect in June.

Browne has shown herself to be a capable jurist who is providing good service to county residents, making her worthy of re-election.

 

 

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Incumbent Judges Top Poll of Lawyers

By John Futty

 

Incumbent Franklin County judges on the November ballot were preferred by the majority of lawyers who voted in the Columbus Bar Association's judicial preference poll.  That includes three judges who were appointed to the bench and are facing voters for the first time.  Common Pleas Judges Laurel Beatty and Kimberly Cocroft and Probate Judge Alan S. Acker, all Democrats appointed by Gov. Ted Strickland, were favored over their Republican challengers.

 

Four incumbent Republicans also were preferred by the lawyers: Common Pleas Judges Michael J. Holbrook and Julie M. Lynch; Appeals Court Judge Judi French; and Domestic Relations Judge Kim A. Browne.

 

In the races for two open judicial seats, the lawyers chose Democrat Mark Serrott over Republican Patrick Piccininni for Common Pleas Court and Democrat Julia L. Dorrian over Republican Seth Gilbert for Appeals Court.  Of about 7,500 eligible members of the bar, 678 cast ballots in electronic voting conducted from Aug.23 to Sept. 3. Alex Lagusch, the bar's executive director, said the number of voters reflects how many of the lawyers practice in front of the judges or are well-acquainted with the candidates.

 

Lawyers "without sufficient current knowledge or information about the candidates" are asked to abstain from voting, according to ballot instructions.  Candidates in all opposed races are screened and given a rating by 21 members of a judicial evaluation committee before the preference poll is conducted. The ratings are "highly recommended," "acceptable" or "not recommended."  The only contest between two "highly recommended" candidates is the race between Piccininni and Serrott. The other "highly recommended" candidates are Acker, Cocroft, Dorrian, French and Holbrook.

 

Four candidates were "not recommended" by the committee [including] Browne's opponent, Jamie Campbell . . . .

 

 

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Wednesday, March 10, 18, 2010

Shynerra Grant Law:  Bill Tackling Teen-dating Violence

Passes Ohio Senate

By Jim Siegel

 

Judge Kim A. Browne looks forward to the day when she can add protection orders to her tool belt of options to deal with the ever-expanding problem of dating-related violence among teenagers.  "It's just a growing trend," said Browne, the lead Franklin County Juvenile Court judge. "These kids are getting involved with each other in an earlier time frame, and these things don't work out and they get angry."

The Ohio Senate yesterday unanimously passed House Bill 10, which would allow juvenile court judges to issue protection orders against youths under the age of 18 -- same as can be issued now for adults. The bill is expected to get final House approval today and head to Gov. Ted Strickland for his signature.

The measure was named the Shynerra Grant Law, for the 17-year-old Toledo teen who was shot in the head in June 2005 by an abusive ex-boyfriend who had earlier punched and broke the cheerleader's jaw. Her family, who wanted to see Grant attend Wilberforce University on a scholarship, tried to get a protection order, but Ohio law does not allow it for juveniles.

"I did not want to leave here without trying to get some type of justice for Shynerra," said Rep. Edna Brown, D-Toledo, who has been working to pass the bill for five years. "Hopefully some young lady or even young man's life may be saved because they are able to get a protection order rather than a no-contact order."  A no-contact order, Brown said, does not go far enough to keep an abusive juvenile away from his or her victim.

Strickland said he is "hugely supportive" of the bill. He said he was recently in Cleveland when he met Johanna Orozco, whose teenage ex-boyfriend shot her in the face with a shotgun in March 2007. She has testified in support of the bill.  "She is just but one example, I think, of why this legislation should be passed," Strickland said.

Browne said the new law would give judges, law enforcement and school officials more guidance on how to handle juvenile violence and harassment.  "Kids have been doing this forever.  We've called it bullying, or boys being boys," she said. "There have never been tools to address it. Once people are aware it's formalized in statute and there are penalties for it, I think that will curb a lot of this."

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

March 15, 2010

Lockup's Racial Disparity Glaring

City Schools, Police Seek Alternatives to Youth Detention

By Rita Price

 

With black youths now 70 percent of all those admitted to the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center, justice officials want Columbus schools and police to help find alternatives to arrests.

Many of the referrals to police about delinquent behavior come from the schools, said Franklin County Juvenile Judge Kim Browne.  "Maybe we need to think about that - when a referral does need to be made, and when it doesn't," she said.

The way that city schools respond to students who fight or seriously misbehave affects the juvenile-detention population, whose racial makeup is out of proportion to the county's, said Browne, the Juvenile Court's Lead Judge.

About 25 percent of Franklin County children ages 10 to 17 are black. According to court data for 2009, they accounted for nearly three times as many detention admissions as white youths.

Browne and Public Safety Director Mitchell Brown head a project - the Juvenile Justice Community Planning Initiative - that is looking for ways to reduce the disparity.

It has grown worse in recent years, even as overall admissions to detention have declined. The result, to a certain extent, is a collection of juvenile-justice statistics that don't reflect reality, Browne said. "Are African-American kids responsible for 80 percent of the crime? No, they're not."

Suburban police departments might have more time and resources to work with juveniles and their families, or to offer diversion opportunities, before making an arrest, Browne said.

But she believes that a joint effort among schools, police and court officials can find solutions. One of the goals for 2010 listed by the project's team is an "agreement between the Columbus City Schools, the Columbus Division of Police, and Franklin County Juvenile Court regarding the use of alternatives in lieu of referrals to the Juvenile Detention Center."

Seth Walker, the city's assistant public safety director, said police will continue to arrest juveniles when immediate safety is at issue, whether they are at school, at home or on the street.  But, he said, there probably is room for change in how police and school officials handle the incidents that are neither clear-cut matters of law enforcement nor school-based discipline.  "The ones that we're taking a closer look at are the ones that fall into a gray area," he said.

Columbus schools agree, spokeswoman Kim Norris said. "Clearly, there's a recognition by the school district that there's an issue that needs to be addressed. That's why we're a part of this community effort."  All city high schools have police officers on site, and arrests for assault and disorderly conduct are common. School and police officials said they did not have arrest data available last week, however.

Walker said local officials recognize that change has to be made broadly, not just in a school or police precinct or courtroom.

Sometimes, Browne said, black youths sit at the detention center longer than they should because parents don't pick them up.  The toll is heartbreaking, and it must change, she said. "Kids of color come through the court at an alarming rate."  rprice@dispatch.com