Pubdate: Mon, 24 Jan 2005
Source: Wisconsin State Journal (WI)
Copyright: 2005 Madison Newspapers, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/506
Author: Phil Brinkman

SOMETHING NEW: POLS WANT TO KNOW WHAT WORKS

Crime is down and deficits are up, a combination that may be bringing 
Democrats and Republicans together to craft a more cost-effective approach 
to public safety.

Corrections Secretary Matt Frank said he knew something had changed when he 
started meeting with legislators last year to discuss proposed budget cuts.

"I was very seldom asked the question, 'Is this tough on crime or is this 
weak on crime?'. " he said. "The more common question was, 'Is this 
effective? Does this work?' And I was getting that from both sides of the 
aisle."

In the last session, the GOP- controlled Legislature approved a series of 
modest reforms by Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, including early release for 
certain offenders who complete drug and alcohol treatment.

And Republicans are introducing reform bills that only Democrats would have 
sponsored 10 years ago, including one measure by former GOP Sen. Bob Welch 
to move eligible offenders to halfway houses six months before their 
release from prison to aid in their reintegration to society.

Welch had been one of the strongest supporters during the 1990s for longer 
prison terms and abolishing parole.

"As far as I'm concerned, I was on the winning side of that and got my 
way," he said. "Now, I'm circling back and saying, 'OK, now that I know 
we're going to lock up the bad guys for a sufficient length of time, now 
we've got to look at what happens when they get out.'. "

Other factors are making compromise more possible:

. The overall crime rate is at its lowest point in Wisconsin since 1972. 
The incidence of violent crime is the lowest since 1988.

. Crime no longer ranks among the public's chief concerns. In 1994 and 
1996, crime topped the list of the most pressing state problems, according 
to an annual survey conducted for the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. 
It came in second in five of the other six years between 1990 and 1997. 
That has been eclipsed in recent years by concerns about taxes, health-care 
costs and the economy.

. Wisconsin's prison population is at an all-time high, and the cost to 
house those offenders is soaring - $28,000 each. At the same time, the 
governor and Legislature are under pressure to eliminate a projected 
deficit in the next two-year budget of $1.6 billion.

Still, most of the legislative changes amount to tinkering around the 
edges, say advocates of more sweeping reforms aimed at stopping repeat 
offenders from committing crimes by helping them find work, housing and 
other support. And not even all of those are getting the green light.

Last spring, the Republican-controlled Senate unanimously approved a GOP 
bill to help counties set up programs to provide alternatives to 
prosecution or prison for certain nonviolent offenders with drug or alcohol 
problems.

Backers said it would reduce the number of people who re-offend, save the 
state millions of dollars in prison costs and give judges the power to 
order someone to undergo treatment without going to prison.

The measure was also endorsed by a committee in the Republican-led Assembly 
before it was scuttled by Assembly Speaker John Gard, R- Peshtigo.

"They came here with platitudes about, 'Oh, if we just would care more for 
these people . . . everything will be just fine,'. " Gard said. "These are 
people who have been convicted of being drug dealers or other types of 
criminals. I don't immediately say we've got to find a way to keep them in 
the community."

But Sen. Carol Roessler, R- Oshkosh, the bill's chief sponsor in the 
Senate, said she expects the Legislature will take up many more such 
measures in the coming years. She said she was hopeful Republicans and 
Democrats would work together to change the old political calculus that 
held that anything other than more prisons and longer sentences was "soft 
on crime."

"If you want results and you want to save taxpayers money and you want to 
have fewer victims of crime, this is what you need to do.
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