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Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2929.21

Purposes of misdemeanor sentencing

Applied in 65 court decisions — leading case State v. Frank (2018)

Most recently applied in State v. Padgelek (March 2026)

Effective: June 1, 2004; Latest Legislation: House Bill 52 - 125th General Assembly

How often courts cite this section

200420102020202680
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(A) A court that sentences an offender for a misdemeanor or minor misdemeanor violation of any provision of the Revised Code, or of any municipal ordinance that is substantially similar to a misdemeanor or minor misdemeanor violation of a provision of the Revised Code, shall be guided by the overriding purposes of misdemeanor sentencing. The overriding purposes of misdemeanor sentencing are to protect the public from future crime by the offender and others and to punish the offender. To achieve those purposes, the sentencing court shall consider the impact of the offense upon the victim and the need for changing the offender's behavior, rehabilitating the offender, and making restitution to the victim of the offense, the public, or the victim and the public.

(B) A sentence imposed for a misdemeanor or minor misdemeanor violation of a Revised Code provision or for a violation of a municipal ordinance that is subject to division (A) of this section shall be reasonably calculated to achieve the two overriding purposes of misdemeanor sentencing set forth in division (A) of this section, commensurate with and not demeaning to the seriousness of the offender's conduct and its impact upon the victim, and consistent with sentences imposed for similar offenses committed by similar offenders.

(C) A court that imposes a sentence upon an offender for a misdemeanor or minor misdemeanor violation of a Revised Code provision or for a violation of a municipal ordinance that is subject to division (A) of this section shall not base the sentence upon the race, ethnic background, gender, or religion of the offender.

(D) Divisions (A) and (B) of this section shall not apply to any offense that is disposed of by a traffic violations bureau of any court pursuant to Traffic Rule 13 and shall not apply to any violation of any provision of the Revised Code that is a minor misdemeanor and that is disposed of without a court appearance. Divisions (A) to (C) of this section do not affect any penalties established by a municipal corporation for a violation of its ordinances.

Official source: Ohio Laws & Administrative Rules (Legislative Service Commission). Reproduced from public-domain Ohio statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.