Getting arrested and ending up in jail is a deeply upsetting and frightening experience. Even if you're ultimately found to be innocent of a crime, getting arrested may still cause serious upheaval, including job loss and damage to your reputation.
One Key Way to Protect Yourself
If the police are questioning you about your alleged involvement in a crime, it's important to remain silent and seek an attorney to speak on your behalf. This advice holds true even if you're completely innocent or haven't yet been arrested.
Sharing your side of the story with the police may result in your words getting used against you. Also, don't write freely about the alleged crime on social media, texts, or emails. An attorney can help you figure out what to share, how to share it, and what to keep to yourself.
Common Reasons People End Up in Jail
The following are five common reasons for arrests and jail time. Learning more about these criminal charges can help you avoid certain mistakes and become aware of high-risk situations. It doesn't take much for someone to land in jail. Criminal charges can arise from errors, misunderstandings, carelessness, or seemingly small and unimportant actions that still count as a criminal offense.
Disorderly Conduct
Generally, behaviors that subject other people to aggravation, fear, danger, inconvenience, or property damage can fall under the category of disorderly conduct. In Ohio, the situations that may lead to an arrest include:
Threatening people, screaming insults, provoking fights, or making a lot of noise in public areas. An arrest is especially likely if someone ignores a warning to stop.
Blocking traffic for a reason deemed unacceptable.
Keeping first responders from reaching the site of an emergency. One example is when bystanders to a car accident block access to the scene with their own vehicles.
Participating in a protest that's deemed disruptive.
Even when people don’t intend to cause trouble, they may wind up getting arrested in certain situations. The law may be applied unfairly to people who aren't acting in a disruptive or threatening way. An arrest's chances also sharply increase if someone is thought to be disobeying orders from police or other first responders.
Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence
The Ohio State Highway Patrol reported 18,900 incidents of OVI enforcement in 2019. In 2020, there have been over 13,500 incidents so far.
After an OVI arrest, people are sometimes released from jail on their own recognizance and don't need to post bail. Other times, posting bail becomes a necessity. The level of intoxication is one of the factors affecting the state's decision about bail.
People can get arrested for OVI even if their intoxication level is relatively low. Furthermore, the instruments used to measure intoxication levels may be alarmingly inaccurate. It's also important to remember that OVI covers both alcohol and drugs, including medications. If a prescription or over-the-counter drug induces changes in your cognitive functioning, physical coordination, or blood chemistry, it leaves you vulnerable to OVI charges.
Drug Crimes
Allegations of drug possession or distribution feature in many arrests across Ohio. Penalties for drug-related crimes range from relatively small fines to years in prison. Multiple factors influence the severity of the charges and penalties, including:
The type of drug.
The quantity of the drug.
The type of crime.
An individual's criminal history.
The circumstances surrounding the crime. For example, the involvement of children typically leads to more serious charges.
When struggling with an addiction to a drug, it’s critical to seek confidential, compassionate, and evidence-based treatment. And when it comes to medical marijuana, it's important to understand the details pertaining to legal use and distribution. Ohio allows for medical marijuana with various restrictions. Sometimes, people get arrested for unknowingly stepping outside of these boundaries.
Theft
Theft or larceny is a common crime that covers various situations, including shoplifting and grand theft of a vehicle. Whether the theft leads to a misdemeanor or felony charges depends largely on the value of the stolen money, goods, or services.
Under Ohio law, even petty theft of an amount under $1,000 can result in months of jail time. It's also important to note that theft charges can easily come from misunderstandings, false accusations, and unreliable witnesses. For example, the ownership of an item or access privileges to a financial account may be under dispute. Sorting out the details with an attorney is crucial.
Assault
In Ohio, assault involves either causing physical harm or attempting to cause physical harm to another person or to an unborn child. The severity of the assault charges largely depends on the details of the alleged crime.
Even if you don’t intend to injure another person, you may still be subject to assault charges. For example, accidentally injuring someone with a gun may be considered assault if the incident involves negligence.
Another point to consider is that people may be accused of assault when they're actually defending themselves against violent behavior. Sometimes, people who try to defend themselves or defuse a fight wind up getting mistakenly hit with criminal charges.
Seeking Help After an Arrest
After an arrest, people understandably think about finding a good attorney, someone who will strengthen their case and help them fight against mistakes and unfair charges. In many cases, it's also important to find a reputable bail bondsman.
Don't hesitate to reach out to us through our site or by calling . We offer free consultations and can be reached on any day of the week and at any time during the day or night. With patience, compassion, and skill, we'll help you and your loved ones work through the process of bail bonding.