Browsing: Expungement

Wisconsin’s current expungement statute is flawed. It forces judges to make poor decisions with limited information, encourages uneven and often nonsensical administration of justice, and does little to help employers, victims, or low-level, non-violent offenders we should all want in jobs rather than cells.

Reforms recommended by Badger Institute will increase transparency, work opportunities

Conservative organizations, business groups support commonsense reforms

Badger Institute Policy Analyst Julie Grace testified in favor of 2021 SB 78 before the Wisconsin Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety on May 6, 2021.

2021 SB 78 would reform Wisconsin’s expungement laws.

Eighty-seven percent of people who would qualify for an expungement under proposed legislation have never committed anything more serious than a misdemeanor, according to new data from the Badger Institute.

Badger Institute Policy Analyst Julie Grace submitted written testimony in favor of 2021 AB 69 before the Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety on April 7, 2021.

2021 AB 69 would reform Wisconsin’s expungement laws.

The Badger Institute recently hosted a virtual discussion with two Wisconsinites who have seen firsthand the need for expungement reform: State Public Defender Kelli Thompson and Shanyeill McCloud, founder of Clean Slate Milwaukee.

For those with a single, low-level, non-violent offense on their record, receiving an expungement would give them the chance to fully move past their mistake, opening employment and housing opportunities.

Badger Institute urges legislators to advance this meaningful reform

Wisconsin’s law, which requires a judge to decide on expungement at the time of sentencing, is unlike any in the nation

Badger Institute Policy Analyst Julie Grace testifies in favor of 2019 SB 39 before the Wisconsin Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety on March 19, 2019

2019 SB 39 would reform Wisconsin’s expungement laws.

Wisconsin legislators and stakeholders held a news conference to unveil the “Expungement Reform: Pathways to Employment” bill. The bill would allow individuals with misdemeanors or Class H and I felonies to also seek expungement after they serve their sentence, remove the age 25 restriction and would apply retroactively to those who served time before the new legislation.

Badger Institute analysis: Current restrictions undermine lawmakers’ intent, create obstacles to employment.

How to let Wisconsin’s judges help job-seekers and employers.
The report includes two policy briefs:
► Problems with Wisconsin’s Expungement Law: How the Law is Used and How to Make It More Equitable and Effective
► Sentence Adjustment Petitions: Is this Truth-in-Sentencing Provision Really Working?

Plea bargaining, punishment, and the public interest