MAs a result of the Ohio 124th General Assembly passing House Bill 490, misdemeanor sentencing laws for the State of Ohio will change as of January 1, 2004. This new law will provide a variety of sentencing options available to the court for sentencing of misdemeanor offenders. The sentence could include but is not limited to : jail terms, community residential sanctions, non-residential sanctions, community service, fines, and other financial sanctions.

In lieu of local incarceration, the court will have the option of placing the offender on community control ( probation ) and/or ordering the offender to a term in a halfway house or drivers intervention program. The court also has the ability to permit the offender to serve the sentence in intermittent confinement, overnight, on weekends, or at any other time or times that will allow the offender to continue at his/her occupation or care for his/her family. The court may authorize the offender to be released so that the offender may seek or maintain employment, receive education or training, receive treatment, perform community service and/or otherwise fulfill any obligation imposed by law or by the court.

The court may also impose the following non-residential sanctions, which may include but are not limited to the following: a term of day reporting, a term of house arrest with electric monitoring, electric monitoring without house arrest, or house arrest without electric monitoring. The new law also allows the court to order a term of community service of up to 500 hours for misdemeanors of the first degree and up to 200 hours for all other misdemeanors.

The Mason Municipal Court, working with community providers, has developed extensive programming to meet the offenders needs to rehabilitate. These programs include: batterers intervention programs, domestic violence classes, drug and alcohol counseling, 72 hour driver intervention programs, family therapy, theft school, and anger management classes.

The court is also working with non-profit organizations in Warren, Butler, and Hamilton Counties so non-violent offenders can give valuable service hours back to the community in lieu of jail time. These non-profit organizations include: The American Red Cross, Big Brothers and Sisters of Warren County, United Way, Leukemia Lymphoma Society, Mason Public Library, Mason Parks Department, Salvation Army, Feed the Hungry Project, St Raphael Social Service Center, P.A.W.S. Animal Adoption, Free Store Food Bank, and the Shared Food Harvest. The Mason Municipal Court’s Probation Department monitors and enforces all the conditions imposed by the court, including the collection of fines, court costs, and restitution.