Browsing: Criminal Justice

Milwaukee is among the cities that have repeatedly cut law enforcement positions in recent years.

Not only has the city reduced the number of authorized police positions, it has fewer officers to fill them, leading to higher vacancy rates. This inability to fill what remaining positions the city is funding includes leadership ranks: The Milwaukee Police Department is facing a damaging loss of institutional knowledge and practical skills, a loss that could worsen policing just when Milwaukee needs its force to perform at its peak.

Wisconsin’s court system is plagued by massive delays and a growing backlog of criminal cases. It now takes more than a year for a court to resolve an armed robbery charge, 14 months to resolve a sexual assault case and more than 15 months to resolve an allegation that someone committed a murder.

Wisconsin’s crime trends in essence reveal two different states: the city of Milwaukee (and other select urban areas) and the “Rest of Wisconsin.” While most of the state is relatively safe in comparison to five years ago, troubling trends in Milwaukee — one of the primary economic engines of the Badger State and home to 10% of its citizens — are undermining the health and safety of the state in general.

The Badger Institute today released four new reports as part of a Mandate for Madison crime and public safety package.

For the people who need it most — poor residents of Milwaukee, families and victims of particularly violent crimes like homicide and aggravated assault throughout the state, children in schools where politicians won’t allow police, and almost anyone awaiting a verdict — Wisconsin’s criminal justice system is failing.

Wisconsin, like most states, allows individuals who have been convicted of a one-time, low-level offense to ask a judge to have the record of that conviction expunged once they’ve served their sentence and demonstrated they pose no risk to public safety

The Milwaukee Police Department responded to 1,310 calls for service at 34 MPS-controlled high schools in the 2021-’22 school year,

Like all government programs, the criminal justice system must be evaluated on the basis of cost-effectiveness and outcomes. Wisconsin’s current…

Criminals are emboldened if they think they won’t get caught

Badger Institute Policy Analyst Julie Grace testified in favor of 2021 AB 108, AB 109 and AB 110 before the Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Government Accountability and Oversight on May 18, 2021..

These bills would increase transparency in the Wisconsin criminal justice system.

State Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Dallet wrote recently, according to a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, that a study on race and prison sentencing in Wisconsin “confirms what I and many others have been saying, which is that we have a long way yet to go to have a system that truly treats all equally.

Wisconsin voters often split evenly on big elections and key issues. But voters on the right and the left agree on the dire shortcomings of the state’s corrections system and the need for reform.

The new age of electronic monitoring

Pastor Jerome Smith got a second chance and made sure countless others received one too

Eighty-seven percent of people who would qualify for an expungement under proposed legislation have never committed anything more serious than a misdemeanor, according to new data from the Badger Institute.

A majority of Wisconsin voters believe the state’s criminal justice system needs significant improvements, expungement law needs reform; voters overwhelmingly agree the criminal justice system should ensure people are less likely to commit another crime & help people become productive, law-abiding citizens.

Incarceration is rare for pot-only convictions; coupled with municipal policies, Wisconsin has effectively decriminalized marijuana

For those with a single, low-level, non-violent offense on their record, receiving an expungement would give them the chance to fully move past their mistake, opening employment and housing opportunities.

Incarceration is rare for pot-only convictions; coupled with municipal policies, Wisconsin has, in effect, decriminalized marijuana.

Coalition releases recommendations to guide Wisconsin policymakers