Wisconsin in the midst of a constitutional crisis. Those accused of crimes without resources to hire an attorney regularly languish in jail waiting for legal representation as the State works to clear a backlog of an estimated 35,000 pending cases. Overcriminalization and a prosecution-oriented approach to public safety across the state have overwhelmed an already troubled system.
Read more here.
In 2021, Nearly 40% of the 18,000 law enforcement agencies across the nation failed to report crime data to the FBI’s national database. This was after a transition to a new collection system, causing huge gaps in national crime rates. Only 47% of Wisconsin law enforcement agencies reported a full year of crime data to the FBI. Click the link below to learn more details on this statistic.
While many agree that police departments should reflect the communities they serve, this has not always been applied often enough to the gender makeup of police departments. The 30×30 initiative’s goal is for women to make up 30% of the recruits in police training classes by 2030. Currently, 28% of Madison’s 509 sworn officers are women. We hope this effort will result in a police department that reflects the diversity of our community and increases trust and engagement. We believe this is one of many reforms that need to take place to increase the legitimacy of our criminal justice system and protect the individual rights of the accused. As stated in the article, “It’s not just about getting women in the door, but on transforming police agencies by taking a deep look at policies, procedures and culture.”
Individuals- particularly black men – who are exonerated after a wrongful conviction continue to pay a steep price after returning to society.
