In our August 2023 report, Under Pressure, the Wisconsin Policy Forum explored how the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted the justice system in Milwaukee County and whether the system had recovered to its pre-pandemic functioning. The report found a number of key impacts, including a sharp decrease in arrests in the city of Milwaukee, a drop in district attorney charge rates, a rise in case dismissals, and a growing felony backlog in the courts.
While Under Pressure touched briefly on a sharp increase in motor vehicle thefts in the city of Milwaukee, many of which were thought to be committed by youth, its primary focus was the adult justice system. The report did not explore the impacts of the pandemic and the car theft spike on the youth justice system nor whether any negative impacts to the functioning of that system remain and need to be addressed.
In this report, we turn our focus to youth justice in Milwaukee County. This topic has received considerable attention since the pandemic, not only in light of the increase in auto thefts by youth, but also the substantial overcrowding challenges at the county’s youth detention facility that surfaced as the impacts of the pandemic were subsiding.
While receiving less public attention, there has also been a remarkable transformation in how the youth justice system is addressing youth who have been deemed by judges to need secure detention. The average daily population of Milwaukee County youth housed at state-run juvenile corrections institutions has shrunk over the past decade from a budgeted 146 in 2014 to 28 in 2024. Meanwhile, the county has placed increased emphasis on supporting community-based programs for youth who come into contact with the system. We attempt here to explore the outcomes related to this transformation, which has saved the county millions of dollars in annual corrections payments to the state.
Specifically, this report seeks to address the following questions:
- How was the youth justice system impacted by the pandemic and the 2021 spike in motor vehicle thefts in Milwaukee, and has it recovered?
- Were the number of youths referred to the justice system impacted by the pandemic, and how do 2024 referrals and other activity levels within the youth justice system compare to pre-pandemic totals?
- How has the huge drop in the number of Milwaukee County youths sentenced to state-run corrections facilities impacted participation in other related services offered by the county, and what do we know about recidivism rates and other outcomes associated with such services?
- Overall, what do we know about trends in rates of youth crimes in Milwaukee over time and in dispositions related to those crimes?
In the report, we provide data and analysis that help to resolve some of these questions. Unfortunately, we find that for others, information does not exist to provide satisfactory answers. We hope, therefore, that this report is used by policymakers not only to reflect on how the youth justice system is currently functioning and has changed over time, but also to consider where data gaps should be filled to guide policymaking and ensure effective oversight in the future. Continue reading…