By
Senators
Sullivan, Roessler, Leibham, Breske, Darling, Grothman, Coggs and Kedzie; cosponsored by Representatives Staskunas, Ziegelbauer, Kerkman, Hubler, Black, Jeskewitz, Hahn, Benedict, Gundrum, Hebl, Mason, Berceau, Gunderson, Wasserman, Cullen, Molepske, Fields, Lothian and Hraychuck.
To committee on Judiciary and Corrections.
__________________
executive order #189
Relating to the Creation of the Commission on Reducing Racial Disparities in the Wisconsin Justice System
WHEREAS, disparate treatment of people of color occurs across the spectrum of the criminal justice system throughout the nation; and
WHEREAS, African-Americans and Hispanics constitute a disproportionate percentage of incarcerated populations in Wisconsin; and
WHEREAS, in January 2007, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency reported that young African-Americans in Wisconsin are imprisoned at 18.4 times the rate of white youth and that young Hispanics in Wisconsin are imprisoned at 3.9 times the rate of white youth; and
WHEREAS, disproportionate minority contact has been an area of interest for the Wisconsin Sentencing Commission, the Governor's Juvenile Justice Commission, and the Legislature's Black and Hispanic Caucus; and
WHEREAS, Wisconsin's leaders - from business, government, the justice system, and community groups - must be smarter and must work harder to help prevent people of color from entering the criminal justice system; and
WHEREAS, Wisconsin residents can benefit from a comprehensive and coordinated strategy to reduce racial disparities within the criminal justice system;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JIM DOYLE, Governor of the State of Wisconsin, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of this State, and specifically by Wis. Stat. §
14.019, do hereby:
1. Create the Commission on Reducing Racial Disparities in the Wisconsin Justice System (the “Commission");
2. Direct the Commission to:
a. Determine whether discrimination is built into the criminal justice system at each stage of the criminal justice continuum of arrest through parole; and
b. Recommend strategies and solutions to reduce the racial disparity in the Wisconsin criminal justice system;
3. Provide that members of the Commission shall be appointed by the Governor to serve at the pleasure of the Governor;
4. Provide that the members of the Commission will be comprised of no more than 24 members of stakeholders including representatives from law enforcement, the financial industry, the legislature, the legal profession, the clergy, the judiciary, and the criminal justice system;
5. Provide that there will be two (2) co-chairpersons of the Commission and that these co-chairpersons shall be designated by the Governor from among the Commission's membership;
6. Direct the Office of Justice Assistance to provide basic staff support to the Commission, and all state agencies to provide information and assistance to the Commission at its request; and
7. Direct the Commission to submit a final report on its findings and recommendations to the Governor by October 1, 2007, and that the Commission shall dissolve when its final report is accepted by the Governor.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Wisconsin to be affixed. Done at the Capitol in the City of Madison this twenty first day of March in the year two thousand seven.
JIM DOYLE
Governor
By the governor:
DOUGLAS LA FOLLETTE
Secretary of State
