Judge Batchelor: Finding a job can be the way out of crime for low-level offenders
COSHOCTON − Felony indictments in Coshocton County Common Pleas Court were down in 2023 from 2022 and Judge Robert Batchelor attributes some of that to the economy and workforce.
Per the court's annual report, there were 101 new indictments or bills of information filed for 2023, down from 145 in 2022. Criminal cases closed, including carryover from the previous year, were 144 for 2023 and 71 prison terms were issued for 63 offenders. Coshocton County has 253 inmates in the state prison system. Some offenders may have charges in separate cases.
Batchelor attributes some of that to people being able to find not just jobs, but good paying and steady employment. The current climate has employers desperate for workers and willing to hire convicted felons, where maybe they weren't in the past. Batchelor said that's key in getting people out of the situation where they were using or selling drugs or committing other crimes, sometimes to fund a drug habit.
"You have more people working. There are more high paying opportunities available to them," Batchelor said. "They're a productive law abiding member of society. That's really the result we're looking for for low level felony offenders. Obviously, higher level offenders receive prison time."
Batchelor recently signed a man off of probation who found a union job in another county and he told his probation officer how it's turned his life around. Batchelor is working with a woman through the recovery court program for drug offenders who got a job at Kraft-Heinz. She told Batchelor she took a certain position, because it would allow her to learn all the different jobs in the plant. Batchelor was impressed with her drive and he views such situations as best case scenarios.
"It really just settles people down," Batchelor said of people landing gainful employment. "If we can keep them employed, that's going to be the biggest factor out there at this point."
By the numbers for 2023
● Forty cases resulted in probation, or community control sanctions, for 38 offenders. Five had probation revoked and were sentenced to prison.
● Of the 63 offenders sentenced to prison, nine were female.
● Seventeen cases for 13 offenders resulted in intervention in lieu of conviction. Four offenders had the intervention revoked and received local jail sentences ranging from 180 to 330 days.
● Four cases were dismissed due to death of three defendants.
● Four cases were dismissed by the prosecutor's office due to evidence-related issues.
● Three criminal jury trials were held resulting in conviction and imposed prison time.
● Three cases had a not guilty verdict by reason of insanity with those defendants being placed in the custody of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and placed in a lockdown facility.
● Three cases resulted in local incarceration of 180 to 300 days.
● One felony case was reduced to a misdemeanor.
● One case was closed due to a deferred prosecution agreement.
● The probation department had 38 cases related to community control sanctions, 17 intervention in lieu of conviction, four from judicial release and 84 on pre-trial supervision. Of 40 applications for early prison release filed in 2023, only two were granted.
● Recovery court had 25 participants with 12 successfully completing the program and five still participating at the end of the year. Seven were unsuccessfully terminated and one was placed in a special docket with another court. Batchelor said the recovery court program saved taxpayers more than $200,000 last year in incarceration costs. The program operates on a $30,000 annual state grant.
● Seven drug offenders were placed in a lockup rehabilitation facility operated by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction with all completing the six month program.
Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with more than 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @llhayhurst.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Employment helps low-level offenders turn their lives around
