A Wisconsin Assembly committee is considering three bills that would implement new pretrial detention procedures and discourage use of cash bail.

Some defendants spend longer in jail awaiting trial than their sentences ultimately call for.

Although Gov. Scott Walker’s 57 vetoes to the state’s new budget contained few surprises, the reasons given for his use of his powerful pen might have left some observers scratching their heads.

Counties would no longer have to come up with their own money if they want to test out using GPS devices to keep track of people who have been placed on restraining orders.

Wisconsin Democrats are pressing Republican Gov. Scott Walker to erase language in the state budget that would allow bounty hunters to operate in the state.

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said Monday he can't support provisions his fellow Republicans added to the state budget that would delay transmitting arrestees' DNA to the state crime labs and allow bounty hunters to operate in the state.

The Legislature's budget committee has approved creating a private, commercial bail bond system in five counties in Wisconsin before it would expand statewide after five years.

A Wisconsin legislator is expected to introduce a bill Friday that would re-establish a bail bondsmen system that has been extinct in the state since 1979.

A last-minute veto from Gov. Scott Walker means Wisconsin will not be returning to the days of state-regulated bail bondsmen. Walker vetoed the state budget provision Sunday morning, before signing the budget later that day. The proposal, which would have revived state licensing of bail bondsmen for the first time in almost 32 years, was framed in the budget as ...

By TODD RICHMOND Associated Press ASHWAUBENON, Wis. (AP) — Republican Gov. Scott Walker left the state budget largely intact, using his powerful veto pen to issue only 50 changes before signing it into law Sunday. The lack of changes — Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle made 81 vetoes in the 2009-11 budget — indicate Republicans who control the Legislature handed the ...

A provision in the Wisconsin state budget awaiting Gov. Scott Walker’s signature would revive a competitive bail bond practice and potentially lead to confusion in the criminal justice system. The proposal, which would revive state licensing of bail bondsmen for the first time in almost 32 years, is framed in the budget as a way to create a competitive new ...