A Case Study on the Heartless Felons Prosecution in Cleveland, Ohio

• In Event: Roundtable: Gangs

Abstract

On June 12, 2014, The Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Prosecutor’s office announced its “latest and most significant initiative to reduce violence at the juvenile justice detention center” This “initiative” resulted in a total of 437 charges against 43 African American males ages 15-17 for acts committed as part of the alleged gang know as the “Heartless Felons” while incarcerated in the juvenile detention center. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, this case was the largest state gang case ever brought in Ohio and the first time the gang statute has been used against the juvenile gang for actions committed entirely within a correctional facility. Motions were filed to transfer all forty-three of these young men to criminal court for prosecution as adults; fourteen were transferred for criminal prosecution. This paper will provide an in-depth understanding of this case and the legal system. It will focus on how laws, policies, procedures and decision-making operated in this case to further disadvantage the young African American Men subject to this prosecution. This paper will provide the reader with a greater understanding of the legal system, its processes and procedures and how systemic issues contribute to the overrepresentation of minorities in the justice system.

Author

• Linda M. Julian, Kent State University