Stark County, Ohio

How a case moves here

Stark County follows Ohio law on arrests, release, and courts. These rules are the same in every county in the state; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.

Who decides release first: Every court must keep a bail schedule for misdemeanors so people can be released before they see a judge. When no judge, magistrate, or clerk is available, the sheriff, police, or jailer may set bail from that schedule. Only a judge or magistrate sets bail on a felony.
Ohio Rev. Code 2937.23 Ohio Rev. Code 2937.011(I)
Time to see a judge: A person arrested and still held must see a judicial officer for a bail hearing by the second court day after arrest. After a warrantless arrest, a judge or magistrate must also review probable cause within 48 hours, but that review can happen on paper. If the person had no lawyer at the first hearing and is still held, a second bail hearing with appointed counsel follows two court days later.
Ohio Rev. Code 2937.011(J)Ohio Crim. R. 4(E)(2)
Money bail: Ohio courts may set money bail. The constitution tells courts to weigh public safety, the charge, and the person's record when setting the amount. State law requires the least restrictive conditions and any money terms to be the least costly that will bring the person back to court.
Ohio Const. art. I, sec. 9 Ohio Rev. Code 2937.011(A)-(B)
Courts: Each county's court of common pleas tries felonies. Municipal and county courts hear misdemeanors and hold first appearances in felony cases. Mayor's courts in some cities and villages without a municipal court hear ordinance and traffic cases.
Ohio Rev. Code 2301.01 Ohio Rev. Code 1905.01 Ohio Rev. Code 1907.13
Judges and magistrates: Voters elect common pleas judges to six-year terms on a ballot that shows no party, and judges must have six years of law practice. Municipal and county court judges are elected the same way and must also be lawyers. A mayor, who need not be a lawyer, hears mayor's court cases or appoints a lawyer as magistrate.
Ohio Rev. Code 2301.01 Ohio Rev. Code 3505.04 Ohio Rev. Code 1901.06 Ohio Rev. Code 1901.07 Ohio Rev. Code 1905.05

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Crim.R. 46 was repealed July 1, 2023; bail rules now sit in R.C. 2937.011. Common pleas candidates may run in party primaries even though the general ballot is nonpartisan; not confirmed from statute text here. Magistrate lawyer requirement under Crim.R. 19 not read. That city prosecutors handle misdemeanors is general practice, not read from statute.

What this county does differently

Pretrial practice: Advancing Pretrial lists it as a Public Safety Assessment site since 2014.
Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research, PSA sites list (page modified 2026-06-03)

Cities and towns

Every city, village, town, and township with any of its land in Stark County, largest first. Population, the whole place's: Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024.

Police agencies

Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29. An agency that serves several counties appears on each. Population served is the FBI's figure.

Crime

The crime index

Crime index offenses reported by agencies in Stark County, 2021 to 2025
Offense	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	Per 100k	Ohio
Violent crime	1,465	1,255	1,115	1,332	1,319	350	315
Murder	19	13	10	8	16	3.6	6.3
Rape	220	270	224	212	236	63	52
Robbery	179	131	113	110	102	34	54
Aggravated assault	1,047	841	768	1,002	965	250	203
Property crime	8,136	8,316	6,944	6,390	5,778	1,922	1,700
Burglary	1,551	1,289	1,170	1,097	965	328	241
Larceny	5,849	6,136	5,249	4,910	4,370	1,433	1,227
Motor vehicle theft	736	891	525	383	443	161	232
Arson	51	33	34	27	29	9.4	9.4

Outside the crime index

Offenses outside the crime index reported by agencies in Stark County, 2021 to 2025
Offense	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	Per 100k	Ohio
All offenses outside the crime index	13,118	11,608	10,922	10,366	9,976	3,025	2,693
Simple assault and intimidation	5,522	5,196	4,915	5,141	5,070	1,396	1,147
Vandalism	2,537	2,498	2,423	2,120	1,800	615	569
Fraud	1,786	988	1,027	998	1,025	315	226
Drug abuse violations	2,085	1,898	1,586	1,094	1,102	420	467
Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc.	467	356	276	254	315	90	116
Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing	132	133	146	113	91	33	43
Forgery and counterfeiting	175	128	124	120	103	35	30
Embezzlement		2		4	6	Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.	4.5
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution)	210	184	204	205	205	54	37
Prostitution and commercialized vice	17	21	28	18	4	4.8	4.9
Gambling	2	2	1	1	6	Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.	0.1
Other Group A offenses	185	202	192	298	249	61	49
Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total)				1		Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.	0.2
Human trafficking (not in the total)	1		1	4		Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.	0.4

Offenses agencies in Stark County reported to the FBI in incident detail (NIBRS), each year, the second table by the arrest class each offense falls in. Per 100k: offenses per 100,000 people the reporting agencies police, 2021 to 2025 added together, beside Ohio's rate over the same years. Agencies that reported part of a year are counted with their people, as the state's rates count them. – means too few for a rate: the count is under 20.

Source: FBI NIBRS national master files, each agency's offenses and the FBI's population for it. Ohio: the crime index: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, CrimeDB's chosen value per year (the state page's figures); outside it: FBI NIBRS, agencies that sent incident detail.