Here's a rundown on justice-related bills and issues in the Legislature this week.

An amendment by David Steffen (R-Green Bay) that would have prohibited the Department of Health Services from providing the COVID vaccine to incarcerated folks less than 60 years old until at least 21 days after the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is available to the general public was not included in the final version of AB5 adopted by the Assembly Thursday.
 
HOWEVER: ​SB8, which would prohibit people incarcerated in state prisons from being given priority in COVID vaccine priority in the state’s allocation, is still out there.

Below are summaries of some new bills introduced. The summaries are not complete so if something catches your eye, you might want to check out the full Legislative Reference Bureau analysis printed at the top of the actual bill and check out the full bill itself.

HARSHER PENALTIES – When 40 years is not enough

SB17 – This is a long one. It's all about extra penalties if crimes involve victims who are 60 or older. These summaries are lifted right from the Legislative Reference Bureau except for the penalty explanations.

SEXUAL ASSAULT OF AN ELDER PERSON Under this bill, any act of sexual misconduct that is currently a second degree sexual assault is a first degree sexual assault if the victim is 60 years of age or older. Under current law, if a person engages in any of the specified acts of sexual misconduct, he or she is guilty of a Class C felony (fine of up to $100,000, or imprisonment of up to 40 years, or both). Under the bill, he or she is guilty of a Class B felony (60 years in prison) if the victim is 60 years of age or older, whether or not he or she knew the victim's age.

PHYSICAL ABUSE OF AN ELDER PERSON This bill creates the crime of physical abuse of an elder person that is modeled after the current law prohibition of physical abuse of a child. Under the bill, an elder person is anyone who is 60 years of age or older, and a person may be prosecuted irrespective of whether he or she knew the age of the crime victim. Under the bill, the penalties range from a Class C felony for intentionally causing great bodily harm to a Class I felony for recklessly causing bodily harm. (Details in the bill.)

FREEZING OF ASSETS This bill creates a procedure for a court to freeze or seize assets from a defendant who has been charged with a financial exploitation crime when the victim is an elder person. Under the bill, if a person is charged with a financial exploitation crime, the crime involves property valued at more than $2,500, and the crime victim is at least 60 years old, a prosecuting attorney may file a petition with the court to freeze the funds, assets, or property of the person in an amount up to 100 percent of the alleged value of property involved in the person's pending criminal proceeding for purposes of preserving the property for future payment of restitution to the crime victim.

INCREASED PENALTIES This bill creates a scheme that allows a term of imprisonment that is imposed for a criminal conviction to be increased in length if the crime victim was an elder person. Under the bill, a maximum term of imprisonment of one year or less may be increased to not more than two years; a maximum term of imprisonment of more than one year but not more than ten years may be increased by not more than four years; and a maximum term of imprisonment of more than ten years may be increased by not more than six years. Under the bill, the term of imprisonment may be lengthened irrespective of whether the defendant knew the age of the crime victim.

RESTRAINING ORDERS FOR AN ELDER PERSON This bill allows an elder person who is seeking a domestic violence, individual-at-risk, or harassment restraining order to appear in a court hearing by telephone or live audiovisual means. Under the bill, an elder person is anyone who is 60 years old or older. Under current law, a person seeking a domestic violence, individual-at-risk, or harassment restraining order must appear in person in the courtroom at a hearing to obtain a restraining order.

By Gretchen Schuldt

The criminal record expunction effort that came oh, so, close to approval in the State Legislature last session is back for another try and one of its chief backers, State Rep. Evan Goyke (D-Milwaukee), said there is reason for optimism.

"A lot of our effort during the last two years was education," Goyke said. When legislators first considered the idea of giving those convicted of crimes a second chance, "their initial position was cautious and negative," he said.

More people are more knowledgeable about and less opposed to the bill, he said. There also is new leadership and possible new rules in the Senate, which may help as well, he said.

The revived bill again has bipartisan support. Other key backers of the measure include State Rep. David Steffen (R-Green Bay), State Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and State Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison). The four have signed on to a co-sponsorship memo being circulated among other legislators.

An expunction bill last year came within three senators of passage, but bill supporters could not corral those votes. 

Under current law, a person who wants to have a criminal conviction expunged from their record must ask the judge at the time of sentencing, before a judge has any idea how that person does in prison or on supervision. The law also limits the availability of expungement to those less than 25 years old at the time and to those who do not have a felony conviction record. The offense for which expungement is requested must not be a violent felony and must not carry a penalty greater than six years.

The bipartisan bill being proposed would change the law in several ways. It would remove the discriminatory age limit of 25 and would allow the people convicted of crimes to request expungement when they complete their sentences.

"The decision of whether or not to expunge a record should be based on merit and how an individual rehabilitated themselves, rather than an age," the four legislators said in the memo.  "Wisconsin is one of only four states to have an age limit. This bill removes the age limit in order to focus on individuals that have successfully completed their sentence and have not reoffended."

Other limits, including the types of crimes eligible for expunction, would remain in place.

Once an expunction petition is filed, a judge would review it and either grant or deny it. If denied, a new petition could not be filed for two years. 

The bill also would limit a person to one expunction.

The bill also makes clear what it means to successfully complete a sentence. That would include completing community services, paying all fines, fees, restitution, and completing any community supervision without revocation, according to the co-sponsorship memo.

The bill has strong support among some conservatives. Americans for Prosperity, for example, "have really made this one of their priorities," Goyke said.

"We are inching our coalition bigger," he said.

The bill started in the Assembly last year; this time around, it will go to the Senate first, he said.

By Gretchen Schuldt

​The coronavirus relief bill signed by President Trump last month was the fifth longest bill in the history of the United States, according to govtrack.us. The bill actually deals with a lot more than the COVID crisis and $600 stimulus checks.

It funds the government for the next fiscal year, including the Department of Justice and all of its many arms and related agencies; federal courts, the Department of Homeland Security, and a host of justice-related entities.  

Below are some highlights from the Department of Justice's general administration section. The information and quotes are taken from the House Rules Committee Joint Explanatory Statements. We'll be posting more information over the next few weeks. 

The bill: 

• Provides $153.5 million for state and local law enforcement assistance and Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office grant programs related to police-community relations. This is an increase of $67 million, or 77% (!) above the fiscal year 2020 level. 
  
  
• Includes $5 million for the development and deployment of a database to track excessive use of force and officer misconduct. The Justice Department is "directed to consult with state and local law enforcement agencies, community organizations, and advocacy groups, including those that advocate for the preservation of civil liberties and civil rights." 
  
  
• Supports a previous announcement that DOJ will permit state and local officers to use body-worn cameras on federal task forces. Funding has been provided for the Body-Worn Camera Partnership Program since fiscal year 2016. "However, there are complex issues associated with the use of body-worn cameras, including data storage costs, access under federal records laws, and the need for consistent and accountable deployment of such technology by law enforcement agencies."  The bill "supports continued evaluation of their use by DOJ' s law enforcement components. "

By Gretchen Schuldt

The federal Children and Families Administration is proposing to make it easier for states to keep full child support obligations in place while some debtor parents are incarcerated, likely leading to increased debt when they are released.

The change would apply to those incarcerated as a result of not paying child support or those who committed a crime in which the victim was a dependent child of the offender or receiving child support from that person.

The proposal would allow states to levy the larger obligations even if doing so risks increasing the risk of debt or even recidivism for affected incarcerated people, according to CFA.

Under current rules, child support payment amounts can be adjusted if a parent experiences a major change in circumstances. For example, a parent who is severely injured and is unable to work likely would qualify for reduced child support payments, while a person who wins a $1 million lottery might have to pay more in child support.

Voluntarily leaving a job is not considered a major change, meaning that a parent who simply quits a job likely would not qualify for lower child support obligations. 

Federal regulations now flatly prohibit states from considering incarceration to be voluntary unemployment.  The rule is designed to reflect an incarcerated person's actual ability to pay and to prevent accumulation of child support arrears. 

The proposed rule would allow states the option of imposing full child support obligations on incarcerated who meet the either of the two child-related criteria.

"Some states, based on moral and societal values of justice and fairness, may reasonably determine that persons found guilty of intentional nonsupport, or who show a disregard for the well-being of the custodial parent or child by abusing them, should not benefit from those acts by having their child support obligation suspended or reduced while incarcerated for those crimes – even if that policy risks accumulation of arrears, child support debt, and recidivism," CFA said in its public notice of the proposed change.

CFA is accepting comments on the proposed rule through Nov. 16, 2020. You can make a comment here. ​

Gov. Tony Evers can free incarcerated men and women without the assistance of the State Legislature. He has simply chosen not to do it.

The Legislative Reference Bureau made that perfectly clear in March, when it released a report entitled, "Emergency Release of Prisoners Due to COVID-19."

Here is what is said about Evers' powers. The added emphasis is ours.

The governor’s authority to release inmates from state correctional facilities derives from both the Wisconsin Constitution and the Wisconsin Statutes.

Constitutional powers of clemency. Article V, section 6, of the Wisconsin Consti­tution provides the governor with the power to grant clemency to individuals who have been convicted of a crime except in cases of treason or impeachment, subject to certain statutory limitations. This clemency can take one of three forms: a reprieve, a commuta­tion, or a pardon. A reprieve is a temporary delay of punishment, in which case a prisoner could be released and punishment delayed for some period before being reinstated. A commutation is a reduction in punishment and could take the form of shortening a prison term and releasing an offender early. Finally, a pardon is an official act of forgive­ness for a crime after the sentence has been completed that restores certain civil rights, but does not erase the record of the crime.

The governor’s use of this authority is wholly discretionary. For example, Governor Scott Walker did not grant clemency in any form during his two terms as governor. Governor Evers has reinstated a pardons board to handle clemency applications. The governor has set criteria for obtaining clemency such that only pardons are available; reprieves and commutations are not currently included in the administration’s applica­tion criteria. Rather, a person must have completed his or her sentence at least five years before applying. Under the current policy of the Evers administration, any clemency ap­plication by a person who has not completed his or her sentence will be denied. Thus, while the Wisconsin Constitution provides that the governor may use his or her clemen­cy power to shorten prison terms and release inmates, the current administration’s policy suggests that this is unlikely....

​The entire LRB document is here.