Prepared for the 136th Ohio General Assembly · June 2026
The law is written.
The enforcement is missing.
Fifteen documented gaps across Ohio's Revised Code, Constitution, and procedural rules allow domestic violence, coercive control, and family-court abuse to continue without consequence. This site is the public record of those gaps — and the specific legislation that closes each one.
Summary of findings
The pattern is the system operating as written.
What follows is not a list of bad actors. It is a list of statutory choices the General Assembly has the authority to reverse.
Police discretion swallows the duty to arrest
ORC § 2935.03(B)(3)(b) makes arrest 'preferred' — not mandatory. Officers may decline with a written reason filed internally that the survivor never sees.
Prosecutors confer 'to the extent practicable'
Four words in ORC § 2930.06 swallow the whole duty. No timeline, no format, no consequence for refusing to meet with the victim before a plea or dismissal.
Constitutional victim rights with no remedy
Marsy's Law sits in the Ohio Constitution. ORC § 2930.19(B) bars any claim for damages when a public official violates it. A right without a remedy is not a right.
Psychological & coercive control are uncriminalized
Ohio's DV statute requires bodily harm. Coercive control, economic abuse, and digital surveillance — recognized as harmful by the Ohio Supreme Court itself — remain civil matters.
Family court as a weapon
The vexatious-litigator statute doesn't reach mid-case abuse. CSPOs can be filed the day before trial without screening. Perjury in custody proceedings is prosecuted at a rate approaching statistical zero.
No mandatory firearms surrender after a protection order
Federal law prohibits possession. Ohio has no statute that requires the surrender to happen. The gap between federal prohibition and state enforcement is where survivors die.
The package
Four documents. One legislative record.
Ohio Legal Gap Master Analysis
Fifteen statutory, constitutional, and procedural gaps across psychological abuse, coercive control, economic abuse, litigation abuse, parental interference, firearms, and perjury — each with current law, the exploitable gap, and the legislative fix.
15 gaps · 5 categories
Ohio Domestic Violence Enforcement Act
Proposed amendments to ORC §§ 2935.03 · 2935.032 · 2930.06 · 2930.19 — closing the 'preferred arrest' loophole, eliminating 'to the extent practicable,' giving Marsy's Law teeth, and mandating the Survivor Rights Card.
4 amendments · Standalone or SB174 vehicle
Legislative Accountability Package
Coordinated modifications to ORC §§ 2921.11 (perjury), 2919.23 (custodial interference), and the proposed § 3109.0412 (judicial discretion) — activating felony statutes Ohio already has but does not enforce.
3 amendments · Family Court Integrity Act framing
The Cost of Inaction
Peer-reviewed evidence of the psychological, physical, and intergenerational harm to survivors when Ohio law fails to enforce its own statutes. Neurobiological, clinical, and economic documentation of what 'it's a civil matter' actually costs a human being.
7 sections · Peer-reviewed sources
A note to every member
"The pattern Ohioans experience — police inaction, prosecutor refusal to meet, constitutional rights violated with no consequence — is not a failure of individual officials. It is the system operating exactly as these statutes permit it to operate."
— Excerpt from the DV Enforcement Act, § I
Master priority matrix
Ranked by urgency, ease of passage, and impact.
| # | Amendment target | Vehicle | Difficulty | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marsy's Law civil remedy + AG enforcement (§ 2930.19) | Standalone or SB174 | Moderate | Activates rights passed by 83% of voters |
| 2 | Mandatory perjury referral (§ 2921.11(G)) | Family Court Integrity Act | Low | Activates existing F3 classification |
| 3 | Mandatory arrest in DV cases (§ 2935.03) | Standalone HB | Moderate | Measurably reduces repeat incidents |
| 4 | Mandatory prosecutor conference (§ 2930.06) | SB174 amendment | Low | Restores victim voice in case decisions |
| 5 | Custodial-interference pattern elevation (§ 2919.23) | Standalone HB | Low | Removes prior-conviction prerequisite |
| 6 | Criminal coercive control (new § 2919.251) | Standalone HB | High | Closes the foundational gap |
To every member of the General Assembly
None of these amendments are ideological.
They activate felony statutes that already exist. They require courts to write down their reasoning. They require law enforcement to document what happens. These are accountability measures with no reasonable opposition argument that doesn't amount to defending concealment.