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."