Crawford v. State, Division of Parole & Community Services

As a former trial judge I am well aware of the difficult and facially unpopular executive decision to set up a “halfway house” plan for long-term prisoners. This re-entry system, however, is an absolute necessity for reducing the *191high rate of recidivism common to this type of felon. Corrections experts believe that this methodology cuts the return to crime by half — surely a worthwhile goal. Today the majority has done grave damage to Ohio’s prisoner furlough program by perpetuating and enlarging our mistaken decision in Reynolds v. State (1984), 14 Ohio St. 3d 68, 14 OBR 506, 471 N.E. 2d…