Pubdate: Sat, 09 Feb 2008 Source: Herald Times Reporter (Manitowoc, WI) Copyright: 2008 Herald Times Reporter Contact: http://www.htrnews.com/contact/forms/editor_letter.shtml Website: http://www.htrnews.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1293 Author: Jim Collar Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) STATE PANEL ADDRESSES DISPARITY IN JUSTICE A commission charged with determining why racial minorities are disproportionately imprisoned in Wisconsin suggests increasing drug treatment as an alternative to incarceration among its multitude of recommendations to improve the justice system. Gov. Jim Doyle's Commission on Reducing Racial Disparity in the Wisconsin Justice System released its final report Thursday, which included more than 50 recommendations. Doyle organized the 24-member commission last March based on statistics that placed Wisconsin among the top states in the nation for per capita incarceration of racial minorities. "A lot of the recommendations are doable," said commissioner Pamela Oliver, a University of Wisconsin-Madison sociologist. "It's a matter of whether we want to do it. Some changes would be more difficult than others." In 2005, Wisconsin followed only South Dakota in the per capita number of blacks being held in prisons and jails, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. Census and state correctional data shows that whites make up 86 percent of Wisconsin's population but just 43 percent of its adult prison population. Blacks, meanwhile, make up just 6 percent of the state's population but account for 45 percent of adult inmates, according to the commission report. A 2007 Post-Crescent of Appleton analysis of court records confirmed that the Fox Cities reflect the state numbers. A review of felony cases in Winnebago and Outagamie counties showed that blacks made up at least 14 percent of those sentenced to prison in the two counties' circuit courts from 2003 through 2005, while making up 1 percent of the counties' overall population. Commissioner and state Rep. Garey Bies, R-Sister Bay, said the Legislature could pass several remedies this year, including a bill that would make public defense available to more criminal defendants. Lutecia Gonzalez, a commissioner and Milwaukee attorney, said she's confident that some of the group's efforts will be applied, though wonders where their work will fall in the state's priority list given the many pressing issues facing Wisconsin. "We were able to get some very important things done," Gonzalez said, "but it's going to be tough." Drug crimes were a key focus of the commission's efforts. The commission cited a 2003 federal survey that found young whites self-reported illegal drug use at a higher rate than blacks. Despite lesser usage, blacks in Wisconsin are 11 more times likely than whites to receive a prison sentence for marijuana possession, according to an Oliver study included in the report. Recommendations included increased funding for substance abuse treatment and programming aimed at reducing drug use. The commission asked the state to lift financial aid prohibitions for those who have drug convictions and suggested a state role in assisting local courts in developing drug treatment courts and other alternatives. Though changes toward treatment may not be popular, Oliver said the evidence is clear that current methods of enforcement aren't working. "It could be difficult politically if we're working in slogans instead of reality," Oliver said. "Certainly, the people on the commission were working with reality." Other components of the report include a recommendation that Wisconsin return 17-year-olds to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court. The report seeks better data collection that would allow for better identification of where disparities lie. The commission also suggests community councils to address disparate treatment at the local level. Recommendations for the prison system include collaboration with faith-based organizations to better prepare inmates for prison release. They also recommend the Department of Corrections review the level of discretion that probation and parole officers have in decisions to return their clients to prison and establish a system for reviewing those decisions. "We need to better prepare people that are coming back into society," Bies said. "We're warehousing people, and when we put them back in society, they're no better and probably worse than how they come in." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom