money New committee to tackle staggering racial disparities in Outagamie County Jail inmates
APPLETON - The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council unanimously approved the creation of a new subcommittee at its Wednesday meeting that will begin looking into ways to correct racial disparities Black people face in the criminal justice system.
The new subcommittee, known as the Equity in the Criminal Legal System Subcommittee, will look for solutions to why Black individuals make up 17.5% of Outagamie County Jail inmates, but only 1.6% of county residents.
"We did choose 'criminal legal system' deliberately because it doesn't seem like there's always justice in the criminal system," committee and county board member Sara MacDonald said at the meeting.
Creation of the committee comes after a study presented to the council in January by UW-Oshkosh criminal justice Assistant Professor Matt Richie found that Black people make up a much higher percentage of Outagamie County Jail inmates than the overall Black population in the county.
The subcommittee wants to look into all levels of criminal justice in Outagamie County as well as social and economic factors that are leading to the high incarceration rates among Black people.
The new committee will be led by County Judge Mitch Metropulos and director of Outagamie County Criminal Justice Treatment Services Bernie Vetrone and will include Grand Chute Police Chief Greg Peterson, Assistant District Attorney Chuck Stertz and manager of Appleton's Public Defender Office Rob Welygan.
Vetrone said every level of the criminal justice system contributes to the disproportionate amount of minorities in the county jail, even though law enforcement often gets the brunt of the criticism.
"Policing is just on of the decision points, we have charging decisions at the DA's office, we have bond decisions at the pre-trail stage, we have probation holds and revocations, and we also have the judges and circuit courts sentencing people," he said at the meeting.
MacDonald said the goal of the committee is to look at the criminal justice system as a whole and identify ways each level can correct the racial disparities in the system.
The committee's mission statement is "to eliminate systemic barriers to racial and ethnic fairness in the Outagamie County criminal legal system by identifying challenges, researching solutions, making recommendations and promoting education of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council."
Its role will be to identify challenges Black people experience in the legal system and make recommendations to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council to solve them.
Any actionable solutions to the county's racial disparities will have to be approved by the coordinating council where they will then be given to the Public Safety Committee to review and present to the county board for a vote.
The racial disparities seen in Outagamie County Jail aren't unique, but are mirrored across the state.
According to a USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin analysis of booking records from sheriff's offices across the state, Black people are jailed in disproportionately high numbers across Wisconsin.
The analysis found that in Brown County, Black people comprised 3% of the population, but represented 21% of people jailed. And in Winnebago County, Blacks were about 2% of the population, but represented 20% of jail admissions.
"This isn't an issue that is just in Outagamie County, it is across the board in Wisconsin," MacDonald said.
The subcommittee on Equity in the Criminal Legal System will meet once a month with its first meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. April 20.
MORE: Nearly half of Black inmates in Outagamie County Jail are not county residents, according to survey
Contact Sophia Voight at svoight@postcrescent.com or 920-993-7102. Follow her on twitter @sophia_voight.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Subcommittee aims to solve racial disparities in Outagamie County Jail
