INCHOATE CRIMES
939.30   Solicitation.
939.31   Conspiracy.
939.32   Attempt.
SUBCHAPTER III
DEFENSES TO CRIMINAL LIABILITY
939.42   Intoxication.
939.43   Mistake.
939.44   Adequate provocation.
939.45   Privilege.
939.46   Coercion.
939.47   Necessity.
939.48   Self-defense and defense of others.
939.49   Defense of property and protection against retail theft.
SUBCHAPTER IV
PENALTIES
939.50   Classification of felonies.
939.51   Classification of misdemeanors.
939.52   Classification of forfeitures.
939.60   Felony and misdemeanor defined.
939.61   Penalty when none expressed.
939.615   Lifetime supervision of serious sex offenders.
939.616   Mandatory minimum sentence for child sex offenses.
939.617   Minimum sentence for certain child sex offenses.
939.618   Mandatory minimum sentence for repeat serious sex crimes.
939.619   Mandatory minimum sentence for repeat serious violent crimes.
939.6195   Mandatory minimum sentence for repeat firearm crimes.
939.62   Increased penalty for habitual criminality.
939.621   Increased penalty for certain domestic abuse offenses.
939.623   Increased penalty for elder person victims.
939.63   Penalties; use of a dangerous weapon.
939.632   Penalties; violent crime in a school zone.
939.635   Increased penalty for certain crimes against children committed by a child care provider.
939.645   Penalty; crimes committed against certain people or property.
SUBCHAPTER V
RIGHTS OF THE PROSECUTION
939.65   Prosecution under more than one section permitted.
939.66   Conviction of included crime permitted.
SUBCHAPTER VI
RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED
939.70   Presumption of innocence and burden of proof.
939.71   Limitation on the number of convictions.
939.72   No conviction of both inchoate and completed crime.
939.73   Criminal penalty permitted only on conviction.
939.74   Time limitations on prosecutions.
939.75   Death or harm to an unborn child.
Ch. 939 Cross-reference Cross-reference: See definitions in s. 939.22.
Ch. 939 Note NOTE: 1987 Wis. Act 399 included changes in homicide and lesser included offenses. The sections affected had previously passed the senate as 1987 Senate Bill 191, which was prepared by the Judicial Council and contained explanatory notes. These notes have been inserted following the sections affected and are credited to SB 191 as “Bill 191-S".
subch. I of ch. 939 SUBCHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
939.01 939.01 Name and interpretation. Chapters 939 to 951 may be referred to as the criminal code but shall not be interpreted as a unit. Crimes committed prior to July 1, 1956, are not affected by chs. 939 to 951.
939.01 History History: 1979 c. 89; 1987 a. 332 s. 64.
939.03 939.03 Jurisdiction of state over crime.
939.03(1)(1)A person is subject to prosecution and punishment under the law of this state if any of the following applies:
939.03(1)(a) (a) The person commits a crime, any of the constituent elements of which takes place in this state.
939.03(1)(b) (b) While out of this state, the person aids and abets, conspires with, or advises, incites, commands, or solicits another to commit a crime in this state.
939.03(1)(c) (c) While out of this state, the person does an act with intent that it cause in this state a consequence set forth in a section defining a crime.
939.03(1)(d) (d) While out of this state, the person steals and subsequently brings any of the stolen property into this state.
939.03(1)(e) (e) The person violates s. 943.201 or 943.203 and the victim, at the time of the violation, is an individual who resides in this state, a deceased individual who resided in this state immediately before his or her death, or an entity, as defined in s. 943.203 (1) (a), that is located in this state.
939.03(1)(f) (f) The person violates s. 943.89 and the matter or thing is deposited for delivery within this state or is received or taken within this state.
939.03(1)(g) (g) The person violates s. 943.90 and the transmission is from within this state, the transmission is received within this state, or it is reasonably foreseeable that the transmission will be accessed by a person or machine within this state.
939.03(2) (2)In this section “state" includes area within the boundaries of the state, and area over which the state exercises concurrent jurisdiction under article IX, section 1, of the constitution.
939.03 History History: 1983 a. 192; 1993 a. 486; 2003 a. 36; 2005 a. 212.
939.03 Annotation Discussing jurisdiction over a crime committed by a Menominee Indian while on the Menominee Indian Reservation. State ex rel. Pyatskowit v. Montour, 72 Wis. 2d 277, 240 N.W.2d 186 (1976).
939.03 Annotation Treaties between the federal government and Menominee tribe do not deprive the state of criminal subject matter jurisdiction over a crime committed by a Menominee outside the reservation. Sturdevant v. State, 76 Wis. 2d 247, 251 N.W.2d 50 (1977).
939.03 Annotation Trial courts do not have subject matter jurisdiction to convict defendants under unconstitutionally vague statutes. State ex rel. Skinkis v. Treffert, 90 Wis. 2d 528, 280 N.W.2d 316 (Ct. App. 1979).
939.03 Annotation A fisherman who violated Minnesota and Wisconsin fishing laws while standing on the Minnesota bank of the Mississippi River was subject to Wisconsin prosecution. State v. Nelson, 92 Wis. 2d 855, 285 N.W.2d 924 (Ct. App. 1979).
939.03 Annotation The state has exclusive jurisdiction over second-offense drunk driving. A second offender may not be charged as a first offender under a local ordinance. County of Walworth v. Rohner, 108 Wis. 2d 713, 324 N.W.2d 682 (1982). But see City of Eau Claire v. Booth, 2016 WI 65, 370 Wis. 2d 595, 882 N.W.2d 738, 15-0869.
939.03 Annotation An unlawful arrest does not deprive a court of personal jurisdiction over a defendant. State v. Smith, 131 Wis. 2d 220, 388 N.W.2d 601 (1986).
939.03 Annotation Jurisdiction in a criminal nonsupport action under s. 948.22 does not require that the child to be supported be a resident of Wisconsin during the charged period. State v. Gantt, 201 Wis. 2d 206, 548 N.W.2d 134 (Ct. App. 1996), 95-2469.
939.03 Annotation Objections to subject matter jurisdiction that turn on a question of law may not be waived by a guilty plea, but objections to subject matter jurisdiction based on a factual dispute do not survive. State v. Bratrud, 204 Wis. 2d 445, 555 N.W.2d 662 (Ct. App. 1995), 94-3402.
939.03 Annotation A trial court did not lose subject matter jurisdiction over a count in a criminal complaint when an oral amendment of the count did not include one of the elements of the new offense. State v. Diehl, 205 Wis. 2d 1, 555 N.W.2d 174 (Ct. App. 1996), 95-2444.
939.03 Annotation A sentencing court is accorded incidental powers necessary to carry out its judicial functions and may modify an improper sentence, but it is not competent to enter a money judgment against the state for the recovery of improperly collected restitution under an improper sentence. State v. Minniecheske, 223 Wis. 2d 493, 590 N.W.2d 17 (Ct. App. 1998), 98-1369.
939.03 Annotation For purposes of jurisdictional analysis, the defendant father's concealment in Canada of a child taken from the child's mother in Wisconsin was inseparable from the consequences of the concealment in Wisconsin, thus giving a Wisconsin court jurisdiction under sub. (1) (c) to try the defendant for a violation of s. 948.31. State v. Inglin, 224 Wis. 2d 764, 592 N.W.2d 666 (Ct. App. 1999), 97-3091.
939.03 Annotation This section relates to both personal and territorial jurisdiction. When a trial court validly acquired territorial jurisdiction over the charged crime, it could not lose jurisdiction over a lesser-included crime. State v. Randle, 2002 WI App 116, 252 Wis. 2d 743, 647 N.W.2d 324, 01-1448.
939.03 Annotation If there is no serious evidentiary dispute that the trial court has territorial jurisdiction, a special instruction on territorial jurisdiction need not be given to the jury. A person may be prosecuted for doing an act outside this state that has a criminally proscribed consequence within the state. State v. Brown, 2003 WI App 34, 260 Wis. 2d 125, 659 N.W.2d 110, 02-1000.
939.03 Annotation The constituent elements of an offense under sub. (1) (a) are those elements of the criminal offense that the state is required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt in the prosecution of the offense. A constituent element of a criminal offense may be either the wrongful deed that comprises the physical component or the state of mind that the prosecution must prove that a defendant had. For first-degree homicide, sub. (1) (a) is satisfied upon proof that the defendant committed an act in Wisconsin manifesting the intent to kill. State v. Anderson, 2005 WI 54, 280 Wis. 2d 104, 695 N.W.2d 731, 03-3478.
939.03 Annotation Age limits on criminal, juvenile delinquency, and juvenile in need of protection or services (JIPS) matters both define and restrict how a circuit court may address the specific case before the court, and not whether a circuit court can hear criminal, juvenile delinquency, or JIPS matters generally. Therefore, age limits are an issue of statutory competency, rather than subject matter jurisdiction. Unlike challenges to subject matter jurisdiction, challenges to statutory competency may be forfeited or waived. State v. Sanders, 2018 WI 51, 381 Wis. 2d 522, 912 N.W.2d 16, 15-2328.
939.03 Annotation A defendant's age at the time the defendant is charged, not the defendant's age at the time the defendant commits the underlying conduct, determines whether the circuit court has statutory competency to hear the case as a criminal, juvenile delinquency, or juvenile in need of protection or services matter. Consequently, the circuit court in this case possessed statutory competency to hear the defendant's case as a criminal matter because the defendant was an adult at the time he was charged for conduct he committed before his tenth birthday. State v. Sanders, 2018 WI 51, 381 Wis. 2d 522, 912 N.W.2d 16, 15-2328.
939.03 Annotation In this case, the circuit court possessed territorial jurisdiction under sub. (1) (c) because the defendant's failure to update his sex offender registration had a criminal consequence in this state pursuant to s. 301.45 (6). The general criminal-law rule is that a crime involving a failure to act is committed at the place where the act is required to be performed. In this case, the defendant's failure to update his registration with Wisconsin authorities quite obviously had a consequence that is prohibited by this state's criminal law, thereby making territorial jurisdiction appropriate under sub. (1) (c). That the defendant's failure arises from his moving within another state—rather than within, to, or from Wisconsin—does nothing to change this obvious consequence. State v. Triebold, 2021 WI App 13, 396 Wis. 2d 176, 955 N.W.2d 415, 19-1209.
939.05 939.05 Parties to crime.
939.05(1)(1)Whoever is concerned in the commission of a crime is a principal and may be charged with and convicted of the commission of the crime although the person did not directly commit it and although the person who directly committed it has not been convicted or has been convicted of some other degree of the crime or of some other crime based on the same act.
939.05(2) (2)A person is concerned in the commission of the crime if the person:
939.05(2)(a) (a) Directly commits the crime; or
939.05(2)(b) (b) Intentionally aids and abets the commission of it; or
939.05(2)(c) (c) Is a party to a conspiracy with another to commit it or advises, hires, counsels or otherwise procures another to commit it. Such a party is also concerned in the commission of any other crime which is committed in pursuance of the intended crime and which under the circumstances is a natural and probable consequence of the intended crime. This paragraph does not apply to a person who voluntarily changes his or her mind and no longer desires that the crime be committed and notifies the other parties concerned of his or her withdrawal within a reasonable time before the commission of the crime so as to allow the others also to withdraw.
939.05 History History: 1993 a. 486.
939.05 Annotation It is desirable, but not mandatory, that an information refer to this section if the district attorney knows in advance that a conviction can only be based on participation and the court can instruct and the defendant can be convicted on the basis of this section in the absence of a showing of adverse effect on the defendant. Bethards v. State, 45 Wis. 2d 606, 173 N.W.2d 634 (1970).
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2021-22 Wisconsin Statutes updated through 2023 Wis. Act 93 and through all Supreme Court and Controlled Substances Board Orders filed before and in effect on March 22, 2024. Published and certified under s. 35.18. Changes effective after March 22, 2024, are designated by NOTES. (Published 3-22-24)