Anyone with access to the internet can look up felony court cases in Cuyahoga County one by one. But understanding how case outcomes vary by judge or by a defendant’s race is impossible without being able to examine all the cases together. The court doesn’t release that data publicly, and The Marshall Project and The Land believe that transparency is essential to understanding flaws in the criminal justice system, including the disproportionate incarceration of Black Clevelanders.
The Marshall Project is scraping records from the court’s public docket and is committed to answering questions directly from community members about the court system.
Find the answers to questions your friends and neighbors submitted using this new tool. Submit your questions below.
Not sure what to ask? Here’s an example of a question we’ve answered.
Testify is published in partnership with WOVU, Cleveland Documenters, The Cleveland Observer, The Real Deal Press, The Land, Ideastream Public Media and the Cleveland Scene. Learn how you can reprint our stories here.
