CIVICC Beta Site Civil Impacts of Criminal Convictions under Ohio Law Last Built 5/10/2011

About CIVICC

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The CIVICC website has been tested successfully with the following web browsers:

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If you have any difficulty with display or navigation in the CIVICC site, try switching to one of the listed browsers. If you still encounter problems, please notify us by e-mail at  E-mail Web Master. We are continually working to improve the site and will do our best to address your concerns.

Scope and Purpose

Ohio’s CIVICC database offers a basic overview of the legal barriers that Ohio law imposes on individuals with criminal records. CIVICC is designed for use by all citizens of Ohio and all others with an interest in its subject matter. People who may benefit from using the CIVICC database include:

• Prosecutors considering the effects of possible charging decisions
• Criminal defense attorneys advising clients about a proposed plea bargain
• Criminal defendants deciding whether to plead guilty or proceed to trial
• Government and community planners developing training and rehabilitation programs for correctional facilities
• Incarcerated individuals preparing for return to the community
• Probation and parole officers helping those under their supervision to lead productive and law-abiding lives
• Community members with prior criminal records, training for skilled occupations or seeking employment
• Social service professionals creating and operating workforce development programs
• Volunteers in faith-based and community programs, helping individuals with criminal records and their families to obtain housing, employment, and education
• University scholars conducting social science research
• Public policy analysts and advocates seeking to improve the laws and their application
• Legislators and their staff members, seeking to ensure consistency and fairness in new legislative enactments

Sponsorship

		The CIVICC internet site and search functions are the work of its web host, the Ohio Public Defender’s office. You can learn more about the Ohio Public Defender at its main web page, http://www.opd.ohio.gov
		The content of the CIVICC database has been compiled by the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, a non-profit law firm based in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more information about OJPC and its work, check out the website at http://www.ohiojpc.org
		Major funding for creation of the CIVICC database came from the Ohio State Bar Foundation, a non-profit legal organization that serves as the charitable arm of the Ohio State Bar Association. Information about OSBF can be found at http://www.osbf.net
		Funding for the creation of CIVICC was also provided by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, through its Office of Policy and Offender Reentry. To learn more about ODRC’s work on prisoner reentry, visit http://www.drc.ohio.gov/web/offenderreentry.htm
		Additional financial support for CIVICC’s creation came from the Toledo Bar Association Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Toledo Bar Association. Information about the TBA Foundation can be found at http://www.toledobar.org/About/TBA-Foundation

Continuous Improvement

Building CIVICC is an ongoing effort by the lawyers of Ohio Justice and Policy Center and the information technology personnel of the Ohio Public Defender’s office. The work has two main components:

Building database content

• Currently the team is working to include the essential information about every civil consequence prescribed by Ohio statute, as published in the Ohio Revised Code (“ORC”).
• The next step will be to add information about the impacts created by the rules of Ohio’s administrative agencies and published in the Ohio Administrative Code (“OAC”).
• We intend to update the information in the database regularly, to reflect changes in the law.
• Database content may be expanded in later phases, to include additional laws and practices that affect people with criminal records. Any future expansion will depend on available resources and user needs.

Making the information available on the web

• The CIVICC website is designed to be an online space where:
• Civil impact information is available to all free of charge;
• Anyone can perform a search, without a need for special training;
• Searches will produce the information users need most;
• Search results will be easy to understand; and
• Users who want to know more can obtain additional information.
• The CIVICC team is continually working to improve the website for these core purposes. Occasionally it will be necessary to take the site offline for a short while in order to install improvements.
• Over time, we hope to develop additional capabilities for searching, displaying and using the information in CIVICC. We have many ideas for more sophisticated ways of searching the data, more choices for refining and classifying search results, and more flexible ways of printing and downloading the reported information. We welcome additional ideas based on users’ experience with the site.

You Can Help

You can support the ongoing development and improvement of the CIVICC website by providing information, volunteer assistance, financial support, or all three. Click on Contact Us us to learn more.