In response to criticism regarding the racial disparity in Wisconsin's criminal justice system, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle created a commission Thursday aiming to pinpoint discrimination and find solutions.

The commission will be co-chaired by Madison Police Chief Noble Wray and state Sen. Spencer Coggs, D-Milwaukee, who, along with a varied mix of community leaders, will try to develop strategies to reduce racial disparity in the state's justice system.

Carla Vigue, a spokesperson for Doyle, said the commission will "help us identify where the discrimination is and how we can overcome it."

Vigue said the "top-level community leaders" represent law enforcement, legislative, judicial and criminal justice systems.

"All these forces have come together, and now we're going to try to look at the issue and address it," Vigue said.

University of Wisconsin sociology professor Pam Oliver, the sole UW professor on the commission, said the publicity Wisconsin has received over the last several years for having the highest black incarceration rate in the nation "finally got Doyle's attention."

Oliver said the commission will likely start by getting more detailed information about steps in the judicial process, from arrest to parole.

"A lot of processes come together," Oliver said. "No one thing can fix the problem."

State Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D-Milwaukee, who will also be serving on the commission, said a report that came out a year and a half ago declaring Wisconsin the worst place to live in the nation due to its incarceration rates of blacks was part of the impetus for the creation of the commission.

The scope of the task force, she said, is supposed to stretch across the entire judicial system.

"We are looking at it from the point of entry to the point of exit," Grigsby said. "There needs to be a comprehensive survey of what happens from the beginning to the end."

Grigsby suggested the commission investigate why blacks are entering the system at a higher rate than white people, getting sentenced to jail time at a higher rate, receiving different treatment for paroles and having fewer community resources available for reintegration into society.

According to Oliver, the national incarceration rate for blacks to whites is 7-to-1, while Wisconsin's ratio is 20-to-1. The ratio for violent crimes and murder, she said, is about 10-to-1. Such high levels of incarceration may lead to further social problems for many black communities.

"Black men coming out of prison having felony records have an extremely hard time getting legitimate employment," Oliver said. She added it contributes to the disruption of families.

"You get to the point where, in a lot of neighborhoods, prison becomes normalized," Oliver said.

Grigsby stressed the importance of figuring out the problems and producing "solid recommendations" that would turn into "solid legislation."

"I don't want this to be another task force that just files another report that sits in somebody's file desk for years," Grigsby said. "We need to come up with policy changes that we can implement as members of the Legislature."

Grigsby said these solutions, however, likely would not come quickly.

"It's fixable, but it's not going to be fixable in six months. … It's going to take a lot of concerted social effort to turn things around," Grigsby said. "You're talking about working on [these problems] for at least two generations. … It can be done, but you've got to stick to it."