The Third Branch
June 29 was a banner day at the Dane County Courthouse, and an important day for the Wisconsin court system, for it marked the opening of the state's ninth OWI court program.
Drunk driving is a major problem in Wisconsin. State Department of Transportation figures show that 220 people died in the state in 2010 as a result of drunk driving, and there were nearly 6,000 crashes attributed to intoxicated motorists in 2010.
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Judge John W. Markson |
Judge R. Alan Bates |
Judge Robert A. Kennedy |
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Judge David M. Reddy |
Judge Michael J. Rosborough |
Judge Todd L. Ziegler |
Judge John W. Markson, who was appointed to the Dane County Circuit Court in 2007 and elected in 2008, will preside in the new court. He unveiled the program at a ceremony that included fellow judges, court staff, corrections officials, treatment professionals and law enforcement.
The Dane County program will focus on a fairly narrow subset of drunk drivers, hard-core repeat offenders convicted at least three times and with a blood-alcohol content of at least .20. Initially, a group of 40 defendants will be selected to participate. Each will first serve two weeks in jail and then two years' probation. The first year of probation will be intensive court-monitored treatment.
The Dane County court is just the latest effort to improve the justice system's response to repeat drunk driving. There are currently eight other OWI courts in Wisconsin (Dodge, Grant, Jackson, La Crosse, Marathon, Racine, Washington and Waukesha counties), and five counties are working on new programs (Kenosha, Monroe, Rock, Vernon and Walworth).
Teams from Walworth, Rock, Vernon and Monroe counties, along with a team from Ohio, attended a training program in Michigan this summer for the purpose of establishing OWI treatment courts in their counties.
The training was presented by the National Center for DWI Courts, which is a division of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. It was co-sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The Wisconsin contingent included circuit court Judges Robert A. Kennedy and David M. Reddy, Walworth County; R. Alan Bates, Rock County; Michael J. Rosborough, Vernon County; and Todd L. Ziegler, Monroe County. Staff from the State Public Defender's Office and the respective district attorneys' offices, county human services, sheriff's departments and other local law enforcement participated, as did representatives of the Department of Corrections and the UW system.
Participants hope to apply treatment court methods to the problem of driving under the influence of alcohol and other drugs. Treatment court leverages the authority that the legal system has over someone charged with and/or convicted of a serious offense to require that the person participate in treatment. Close monitoring by the court and the application of rewards and sanctions throughout the course of treatment are keys to the success of the treatment court approach.
Treatment courts have been shown to save significant money while improving community safety and reducing recidivism.
Eric Nelson, First Assistant State Public Defender, Janesville, contributed much of this story.