Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

New probation program has one enrollee, and counting

By: Eric Heisig//May 6, 2014//

New probation program has one enrollee, and counting

By: Eric Heisig//May 6, 2014//

Listen to this article

Defense attorneys and judges foresee little problem with filling a new probation program launched in Milwaukee County, though questions remain about how it will compare to regular probation.

The program will allow some defendants who are at a medium- to high-risk of reoffending to participate in a program that would allow a person to get off probation once they complete a certain amount of hours of some form of counseling. The “dosage” of treatment prescribed can range from 100 hours with a behavioral therapist or, if a person is mentally ill or a drug addict, time treating those diseases. Once that person finishes his or her hours, they have finished their probation.

The idea is to compare the cost and recidivism rates of those in the program to a control group of those who are sentenced to a regular form of probation. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Richard Sankovitz, who helped develop the program, said the experiment calls for tracking 150 people through both sides, though he said the program can take up to 300 people on each side.

The program began Thursday, and one person was put into the program that day by Judge William Brash, Sankovitz said.

Whether there will be enough people to fill the program remains to be seen, but Sankovitz said he expects they’ll hit their 300-person target a year from now, and those defendants in both the control and dosage probation groups will then be tracked for the next three to five years.

Sankovitz said it is not clear how many potential participants are or will be in the court system. But he said the Wisconsin Department of Corrections has agents trained to help with the program, and he thinks it could be an attractive alternative to regular probation.

“I think it’s pretty inviting,” Sankovitz said. “That gives us reason to be optimistic.”

Tom Reed, who heads the State Public Defender’s Milwaukee Office, said since the program is so new, it’s hard to say how many people will sign up. Completing the hours of treatment required by the dosage probation program may prove to be more work than regular probation, he said.

But Reed – who is on the county’s Community Justice Council, which oversees the program – said he does think it could be an appealing alternative.

“I anticipate a lot of defendants will be interested in it,” he said.

Other defense attorneys agree, saying the program is a step in the right direction.

Craig Mastantuono, an attorney with Mastantuono & Coffee SC, said it’s best to “look at it against the backdrop of, too many times, a kind of a one-size-fits-all approach is taken in cases.”

“Let’s make the sentence fit the crime,” he said. “If it’s going to be a community-based sentence, let’s make sure that we do what we need to do as soon as possible.”

Rex Andereagg, a Milwaukee attorney with Anderegg & Associates, said he thinks the alternative program could help by tailoring to the needs of those who need treatment, versus just assigning an arbitrary amount of time serving probation.

“[But] without knowing whether it would be longer or shorter, I suppose it could go either way,” he said. “[Regular] periods of supervision … almost seems to be more like how the DA and the court might view the severity of the case” versus what would benefit the defendant.

The program is one of four the county offers as a result of a federal grant from the National Institute of Corrections, an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice. Other programs, such as screening defendants as they are brought to jail and early intervention programs for certain crimes, were rolled out in the past few years.

Sankovitz said that during the initial testing period, where only half of those deemed eligible will be allowed into the dosage probation program, defendants’ fates are subject to a coin flip. The only defendants completely excluded from the program, he said, are those charged with homicide, sexual assault and domestic violence.

Milwaukee County circuit judges were briefed on the program in the fall, he said, and most of them – as well as prosecutors and defense attorneys – showed support.

“This is something that judges wanted,” Sankovitz said. “We’ve always thought about putting people on probation so they’ll change.”

Polls

Should Steven Avery be granted a new evidentiary hearing?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Legal News

See All Legal News

WLJ People

Sea all WLJ People

Opinion Digests