Issue Position: Crime and the Criminal Justice System

Issue Position

With record numbers of Wisconsinites in jail and prison and thousands of families struggling to pay off large fines for non-violent offenses, it is time that Wisconsin reconsiders the "tough on crime" stance it took in the 1980s. 19% of Wisconsin's prison population, over 4300 people, are in prison for non-violent offenses, mainly drug related. Each one of these non-violent inmates cost the taxpayers an average of $32,500, for a total cost of $139,750,000 to house. In addition to the 22,600 people in Wisconsin prisons, an additional 14,500 people sit in Wisconsin jails. Wisconsin spends over $1.3 Billion a year on State Prisons alone, not including county jails.

Our culture of mass incarceration is costing tax payers billions of dollars, ruining lives and tearing apart Wisconsin families. It's time we end the "tough on crime" crusade and begin to treat individuals in our communities with dignity. Among these reforms, we need to stop treating drug usage as a crime and treat it as a mental health problem in need of treatment. I will fight to make these needed changed to our criminal justice system and restore the dignity of the individual. I will fight against mandatory minimum sentencing, and give judges more discretion in sentencing. I will also propose legislation that abolishes State Statute 939.62, and all subsections thereof, which allows for increases in prison time for repeat offenders. This law only serves to put more people in prison faster, even though the crimes they committed were often minor, sometimes as minor as possession of THC (marijuana) on multiple occasions. I stand for decriminalizing minor offenses and lowering sentences for many other offenses.

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