Felony cases are handled by the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas General Division. The Clerk of Courts maintains criminal court records at the Justice Center Complex, 1200 Ontario Street in Cleveland.

Misdemeanor research can involve separate municipal jurisdictions. Cleveland Municipal Court, Parma Municipal Court, and Lakewood Municipal Court each maintain records within their respective jurisdictions. Identifying the appropriate court is therefore an important part of county-level research, particularly when screening subjects have addresses or case activity outside Cleveland.

Ban-the-Box and Fair Hiring Practices

Ohio Revised Code § 9.73 restricts public employers from including questions about an applicant’s criminal background on an initial employment application, subject to statutory exceptions. The law does not establish the same general restriction for private employers, so CRAs should distinguish public-sector screening from private hiring practices.

Senate Bill 288 significantly changed Ohio’s criminal-record sealing and expungement framework, with major provisions taking effect in April 2023. Under Ohio Revised Code § 2953.32, eligible records may be sealed or expunged, subject to offense-specific restrictions and waiting periods.

The distinction matters for screening research. Sealing generally restricts public access to a record, while expungement involves destruction, deletion, or erasure as defined by Ohio law. Researchers need to recognize current record status rather than treating an older case entry as automatically reportable.