The Role Of Bail On Milwaukee Crime Increases

The Jeff Wagner Show on WTMJ recently discussed an increase in crime over the last two years that Jeff attributes to District Attorney John Chisholm’s election in 2007 and the policies his office created that release more defendants on bail. He seems to relate these policies directly to the spike in crime Milwaukee has experienced in car thefts, shootings, and general lawlessness.

The latest discussion of this topic was sparked by the individual that used his car to kill and injure multiple people during Waukesha’s annual Christmas parade. Jeff said that many of his contacts in law enforcement and the legal system backup his idea that the ease of gaining release for defendants is correlated with the jump in crime. We can sum up his argument as releasing suspected criminals on bail frees them to terrorize law-abiding citizens of Milwaukee County and the surrounding suburbs.

People charged with a crime are considered innocent until proven guilty. The stated goal of bail in Milwaukee is to incentivize defendants to show up for their court date so the bail amount is determined based on their likelihood of doing so. Jeff believes this law should be changed to include more consideration for the safety of the community.

In a recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, Chisholm said that the low bail set for the individual in question was the result of an overburdened, somewhat new staff member determining bail prior to viewing the risk assessment. The court commissioner overseeing the trial that had access to the risk assessment also allowed this person to slip by with $1,000 bail.

According to Chief Judge Mary Triggiano, the courts currently have a backlog of 1,600 felony cases and a misdemeanor backlog of about 3,100 cases owing in part to the court shutting down and restricting services during 2020; Milwaukee’s large upswing in violent crime most likely is also a contributor.

It is difficult to judge Jeff’s argument without some sort of statistics to gauge how widespread the problem is; he spoke of two separate cases that made the news but that doesn’t give us a view of the overall picture. Unfortunately the county doesn’t appear to track this information. It would be immensely useful for the county to track,

1. The number of defendants released on bail.
2. The type of crime they are accused of.
3. The price of granted bail.
4. If arrested after posting bail, the type of crime they are accused of.
5. Whether they are convicted of the accused crimes.

Without the above information we are somewhat limited in determining the scope of the problem. What we can observe is if Milwaukee’s crime rate increased after Chisolm took office. During his 14 years in office there have been less than 100 murders in all but 6 years; still horrific but this this is an improvement over the 100+ homicides regularly seen since the 1990’s. The crime rate also dropped substantially reaching a nadir in 2019 prior to the 2020 pandemic, protests, riots and massive increase in violent crime around the United States. Looking at the Milwaukee Police Department crime map, 2019 saw a grand total of 23,492 crimes. 2021 appears likely to surpass 31,000 while most likely breaking 2020’s record for murders.

The current bail system seems to already take into consideration a person’s past criminal conduct; the Waukesha tragedy to me seems like the result of an error resulting from an overextended system. However even if flooded with cases, if the DA and judicial system are regularly unable to prevent releasing violent people from custody then that absolutely demands some significant adjustments to the status quo.

I feel confident that Chisholm staying or leaving office will make little difference towards fixing what ails Milwaukee. As of now, 50 years of policy-making has failed to make a real dent in American crime; sure there have been significant shifts over the years but the overall culture of criminality remains an ever present societal issue. Until the towns and neighborhoods where the vast majority of these crimes are committed find some way towards incremental improvements we will continue to see more of the same. Why has this become the standard way of life for so many people? Why have so many communities degraded to this point and what can we really do to fix it.