CINCINNATI — Juvenile Judge Kari Bloom has added new responsibilities to her role. She took over as administrative judge for Hamilton County Juvenile Court earlier this year, when Melissa Powers was appointed county prosecutor.
In her office, on a high floor in the old Times-Star building at 800 Broadway, she's been juggling a caseload and adjudicating cases dating to 2020, while also trying to make changes to the juvenile justice system in the county. Some days, her young daughter occupies a pack 'n play in the corner.
As administrative judge, she is now responsible for things outside that building, too.
"We have hundreds of employees, we run the detention center, and then we have lots of contractual obligations and we get things back in contracts like for placements with kids," Judge Bloom said.
Bloom will also be responsible for navigating through an increase in kids facing gun and murder charges, a staffing shortage and a review of the entire juvenile justice system.
After two years of double digit amounts of kids in custody for murder, there is one youth charged with that crime so far in 2023 — there were 16 in 2021 and 11 last year. Judge Bloom said in 2021 she's "never seen" so many kids charged with murder.
Bloom said the court had 66 juvenile corrections officers over three shifts, when full staff is 88. Bloom said 100 officers is the goal. And those aren't the only jobs open.
"We need JCOs, we need probation officers, we need more clerks," Bloom said. "We need those people who have backgrounds that are different or unique. We need the people who care about kids and we need the people who want to be here."
In 2021, the court joined an initiative with the Council of State Governments Justice Center to review the juvenile justice system and come up with ways to improve outcomes for kids while improving public safety.
The center wrote an assessment, noting a 19% decrease in admissions to the detention center and an increase in diversion rate over the prior five years. But it raised concerns over public safety and recidivism rates.
CSG Hamilton County Overview by WCPO 9 News on Scribd
A chart shows 47% of white youths and 50% of non-white youths re-offend in 12 months. The 24 month numbers are more staggering: 57% of white youths re-offend while 82% of non-white youths re-offend.
"Why? Why is that OK? Why has that continued through our court in the past? Why, when that report came out, did we not immediately stop what we were doing and fix it?" Bloom said. "I don't know the answer to that, but that's what we did here."
Bloom brought the center for a two-day site visit in February and has created an "overarching" committee as well as committees focused on diversion, detention, probation, violence prevention, operations and communications. A community-based commission will come eventually.
"We had them tell us the factors that lead to higher recidivism, that we didn't know before," she said. "We had probation, we had detention, we had our community partners get the information and then we're going to push it out even further, as to 'here's what kids need, here's how we keep kids out of the system, here's some diversion tools to keep them out in the first place, and here's how we support families to make sure they keep kids safe at home.'"
An area of concern for the court — and noted in the assessment — is the number of kids charged with gun offenses.
"It's different kids with guns," Bloom said. "It's not kids that are already maybe court-involved and they get to know somebody else and they get themselves in a group and they all get a gun. It's kids who are walking to school with a gun because they're afraid and then they put the gun outside the school, go to school all day, come back out, pick up their gun, and walk home with the gun. Because they're afraid. And that is not a child who is looking to shoot anyone or rob anyone or do anything dangerous to others with the gun. That person, that child, wants to be safe."
That situational risk is something Bloom said she hopes to better understand and to let drive her decision-making.
"What types of cases would we keep kids in [detention]? We think about kids with guns, shootings, murder, felonious assault and a lot of times we think about rape," she said. Absolutely those are very, very serious offenses; what we have to do at juvenile court is look at each kid first and then the charge. That is what the law requires us to do."
Aside from the immediate need to address recidivism rates, the assessment calls for a strategy to identify and address high risk behaviors in the community.
The assessment started under then-Juvenile Administrative Judge Powers. The former colleagues now find themselves in a unique position on opposite sides of the bench, at times.
And that's led to public disagreements.
On a social media post, now-prosecutor Powers highlighted a decision by Bloom to release a juvenile from custody after he was adjudicated for trying to steal a rifle from a Delhi police cruiser.
Powers' office said there were other concerns for the juvenile and magistrates worked to get a psychological evaluation and threat assessment done. Judge Bloom released him against prosecutors' objections.
"The judge was made aware that the defendant had been searching the internet for firearms, the square footage of his high school, and teachers’ home addresses prior to trying to steal the police rifle," Powers wrote in a statement to WCPO. "There were serious concerns about the safety of the community if this child were to be released. The psychological evaluation and risk assessment had not yet even been completed. And yet, Judge Bloom released him over our objections. And it turns out those concerns were justified."
Two weeks after his release, the juvenile was charged with raping a 7-year-old.
Judge Bloom stands by the decision to release him on electronic monitoring.
"As a judge sitting there looking at it, I'm trusting the prosecutors' decision to evaluate that case and choose what they dismiss or not," she said. "This is his very first time being in court ever, super supportive family, support from the school, support to get his education and we don't always have that, right? So I thought 'This is right to do.'"
Powers' office said the juvenile pleaded to the highest charge, adding "this plea did not, in any way, restrict or tie the hands of the judge."
"That is a horrendous example of a really bad situation," Bloom added. "That case and that family is something that I have to sleep with at night. I have to accept the responsibility that that happened."
Bloom said she and Powers don't talk, one-on-one.
"Politics has a time and a place and I think every politician will tell you, 'I hate politics,'" she said. "I certainly do and I would like to tell you that it stops at the front door of this building, but it doesn't. I am still navigating partnerships, and having other people sort of helps me with that relationship."
Powers wrote in a statement: “Our relationship has always been professional and respectful — that hasn’t changed since I left the bench, and I don’t see that changing in the future.”
Powers isn't the first to question Bloom's decision-making. Her predecessor, now-Ohio Supreme Court Justice Joe Deters, publicly questioned Bloom's decision to allow a 14-year-old rape suspect to remain with family under electronic monitoring.
Judge Bloom said she focuses on circumstances — and statistics showing kids often have better outcomes at home. The assessment calls for ensuring detention is only used for kids deemed public safety risks.
"We've been told by the Supreme Court, by the feds, by Ohio laws, holding kids should be the last resort and so, even though that might feel hard — and it is, it's really hard — and it might not feel good because you might be sending them to a family you don't know enough about, that's what we're charged with doing," she said. "Detention plays the role of the last resort, holding kids that are such a danger to the rest of us."
"My top priority is to bring a sense of safety to our community," she said. "What I am doing is building a court that people can rely on to do the right thing for kids and families."
Bloom credits her years as a public defender for driving some of her philosophy and motivation. Not the time in the courts, but the time visiting clients in their homes and communities.
"When I say kids and families, I mean kids and families who are victimized too — not just the ones who come through as defendants, because so often a kid might be in the defendant chair this week and might be victimized next week," Bloom said. "And we don't talk about that enough. We don't talk about restoring our communities and restorative justice."
