Photo credit: boygovideo
A few years ago, I met a woman in Milwaukee who needed help with an old criminal record. I’ve withheld her name for her privacy, but her story is very real and shared by thousands throughout Wisconsin.
As a young woman, she had committed a financial crime. She pled guilty to the felony, accepted responsibility and was sentenced to community supervision and to pay restitution. She successfully did all that was asked of her. Time passed, but the conviction remained. I got the call because, nearly two decades later, her conviction was preventing her from accepting a promotion at work. She works for a major Milwaukee employer and has for several years. She was offered a managerial position but was not able to take it due to her conviction. She called me for help.
Since 1976, Wisconsin has allowed certain individuals to receive expungement (or expunction), which seals their criminal record from public view. Expungement includes removing the record from the Consolidated Court Automation Programs (CCAP). After reviewing this woman’s situation, it was clear that, like most people, she needs a change in the law because of major limits in Wisconsin’s expungement law.
Currently, only individuals 25 and younger at the time of the offense and only convictions for misdemeanors and the two lowest-level felonies are eligible for expungement; no violent offenses are eligible. The court process is also flawed, because judges must make the decision “at the time of sentencing,” meaning before the individual has even completed their sentence. If an individual leaves the sentencing hearing without the judge saying the magic words, the individual is never eligible for expungement—regardless of what they may accomplish in their rehabilitation or how much time has passed.
‘A Fresh Start’
The result of these limitations is an expungement law that has a limited impact. Last year, the Wisconsin Policy Forum published a report titled “A Fresh Start” showing how the limitations of current law impact Milwaukee. The report also suggested changes that would improve Wisconsin’s expungement law.
Building on the report and efforts in the 2017-’18 legislative session, a renewed effort to reform Wisconsin’s expungement law is pending in Madison. The bill—Assembly Bill 33/Senate Bill 39—authored by Republicans David Steffen (Green Bay) and Alberta Darling (River Hills), as well as Democrats Evan Goyke (Milwaukee) and Fred Risser (Madison) along with 73 other publicly supportive legislators from both parties—would retroactively change several of the limitations of current law.
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Outside of elected legislators, a broad and politically diverse number of groups support the legislation. Twenty-nine organizations have officially registered their position on the bill, and zero oppose. Right-leaning groups like the Americans for Prosperity and the Badger Institute support the bill. Left-leaning groups like the American Civil Liberties Union also support the bill. The business community, seeing a major need for employees, supports the bill, including the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce and the Waukesha County Business Alliance. Lastly, the bill was drafted in consultation with judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys and is a balance of the different interests each brings to the criminal justice system.
Under the bill, individuals, regardless of age, would be eligible for expungement if they successfully complete their sentence. Instead of requiring the decision to be made “at the time of sentencing,” individuals would petition the court after completing their sentence, allowing the judge to decide on expungement based on the individual’s rehabilitation rather than guessing about how the individual may be rehabilitated. Also, provisions ensure that victims of crime continue to have a voice in the expungement process, and judges maintain their current discretion and standard in deciding expungement but will be able to do so with much better information.
The bill now only needs a vote in the state Senate; the Assembly passed the bill in May. With broad bipartisan support, this is the type of bill that should be prioritized and passed. Wisconsin has divided government but is united on this needed change to our criminal justice system.
If the bill were to become law, the woman I met—and so many just like her—would be able to go back to court. She would show the judge how she’s changed, how she paid her debt to society and how she’s waiting to reach her true potential if given the chance to be free of her conviction. Let’s hope the Legislature gives her that chance.
Evan Goyke is a member of the Wisconsin Assembly representing the 18th District.
