An informal gathering of officials regarding the criminal justice system in Shawano County is expected to take on a more formal role in the spring.
The Shawano County Public Safety Committee approved the bylaws and resolution March 6 to create the Shawano County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC). It has yet to be approved by the Shawano County Human Services Department and the Shawano County Board of Supervisors, the latter of which is expected March 27.
“We created a drug treatment court. It’s been in existence since 2018, 2019. We were awarded what’s called the Treatment Alternative and Diversions grant since 2020. Part of that grant requires that we have this committee,” said Jenna Hesse, intervention services supervisor with the human services department. “We informally started meeting in 2021, and then we were told … we have to formalize this committee.”
The bylaws were previously approved by Judge William Kussel Jr., the district attorney’s office, the public defender’s office, the sheriff, corporation counsel, the Shawano police chief and others.
The committee will have a maximum of 11 members, nine of which will be permanent spots plus two citizen appointments.
Permanent spots on the committee will be the circuit court presiding judge, district attorney, sheriff, city police chief, human services director, public defender’s office, a county board supervisor, the clerk of courts and a Wisconsin Department of Corrections representative.
All, along with the two citizens, will be appointed by the county board chairman and approved by the county board.
A question was raised about broader representation if the county board supervisor represents the city, and along with the police chief, would over-represent the community at the risk of under-representing the rest of the county.
Chief Deputy Ty Raddant said that issue was never raised in the process of drafting the bylaws.
“I think it ultimately came down to, when we were discussing it, the number of cases that the PD does submit to the district attorney and how many that do come in that we thought they were big enough stakeholder that they should have a little say in it,” he said.
Per diem costs for committee members would be paid by the human services department.
“The intention of having this committee of all of these individuals is to look at what are the issues that are really plaguing your criminal justice system, what are things within the court system, what are low-hanging fruit about ways that you can make changes and modifications to your current system,” Hesse said.
The Shawano County Drug Treatment Court targets adult, non-violent felony offenders or repeat misdemeanor offenders who have been arrested for a drug or drug-motivated offense. All participants are on supervision with DOC, and the program also accepts Alternative to Revocation referrals. All prospective participants must be screened to be high-risk and high-need levels on a correctional offender profiling tool and have a clinical diagnosis of a moderate to severe substance use disorder.
Drug courts are built upon a unique partnership between the criminal justice system and treatment community, one that structures treatment intervention around the authority and personal involvement of a drug treatment court judge. The judge and the drug treatment court team work together with each participant toward a common goal of breaking the cycle of drug or alcohol abuse and criminal behavior.
In 2023, the county received a $107,347 state grant to help operate the drug court.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
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