In Wisconsin, judges can already choose to hold people they deem very dangerous without bail. This amendment moves away from actual public safety measures and is a just a tactic to try and further divide us. We can be better.
We all know what really keeps us safe and thriving– and it’s not crowded jails like some politicians want. This spring, we have the chance to make Wisconsin better for each other. We can reject the politics of fear and embrace freedom and safety for all.
“Wisconsin has a mass incarceration problem,” said Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee). “We have spent almost a billion and a half dollars every year on the prison system alone, and millions more on our county jails, where people who have not yet been convicted of a crime now make up the majority of the 13,000 people in these jails at any given time. The attempted constitutional amendment would only make this problem worse. Instead we should be doing what actually works: risk-based assessments.”
As Senator Chris Larson points out, it is the counties (meaning YOU the local taxpayer) who will pay the price of increased pre-trial incarceration. Considering the already overloaded court system and the statewide shortage of District Attorneys and Public Defenders, people will be held longer and local taxpayers will foot the bill. There is no evidence that any of this will increase public safety. In fact, read the article in the Wisconsin Law Journal (link given below). We are on the brink of a constitutional crisis in our justice system.
From the article:
“It’s a rare day in the Badger State these days (except when the Packers play) when Republicans and Democrats, prosecutors and defense attorneys, people from rural and urban areas, not to mention executive, legislative and judicial branches of government are all in agreement — Wisconsin is on the brink of a constitutional crisis.
District attorneys across the state have either staffing shortages or positions they are unable to fill as salaries can’t compete with the private sector, the Wisconsin Bar tells the Wisconsin Law Journal during an interview.
“It’s hard to attract good young lawyers. Assistant prosecutors and public defenders are getting $27.24 an hour. They come out of law school and they have large loans,” said Margaret Hickey, president of the State Bar of Wisconsin, noting that Wisconsin’s criminal justice system is “in a state of huge disrepair.”
As of January, Hickey said there were 48 assistant district attorney vacancies throughout the state.
The result is that the wheels of justice turn more slowly, Hickey said.
“The delay is important because the person who is accused of a crime has a right to speedy justice and there are victims who now have to wait for their justice. It’s very destressing for people to go to court and to find out that no hearing is happening today because of no public defender being available,” Hickey said.
Adam Plotkin, legislative liaison for the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office, tells the Wisconsin Law Journal that there are currently 45 vacancies in public defender’s offices throughout Wisconsin.
Like in district attorney offices throughout the state, the public defender offices are seeing record turnover.
“Typically, the turnover in the public defender’s office is about 11%, but lately that number is closer to 22%,” Plotkin said, noting that Wisconsin remains in the bottom 1/3 of the country in public defender pay.
The impact spills over from criminal courts to civil, Hickey said, noting that a civil court judge moved over to criminal court and now there are even more delays, which spill into the circuit court system.
AND …..who created this crisis? Our REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE.
VOTE NO on all 3 referendums on April 4th.