All Wisconsin residents with dropped or dismissed criminal charges will still have those charges listed online, a state committee decided Thursday.
The Consolidated Court Automation Program Steering Committee, a division of the Wisconsin Court System that oversees online court records, voted unanimously to include the dismissed charges, despite attempts by the Wisconsin State Bar to change the rule.
Court clerks had previously deleted charges that authorities dropped as a result of plea deals, according to the Associated Press.
The committee said their decision will provide the public with more information, but added they will change how the charges will appear in the database, according to the AP.
Wisconsin has a “strong open records law,” meaning that most court records are available to the public, according to the Wisconsin Court System.
Common Cause in Wisconsin Executive Director Jay Heck sees this decision as one that will give better transparency to the justice system.
“More information is usually a better thing,” Heck said. “It’s better to be public rather than secretive about our court system.”
Heck added however there could be instances where having dismissed charges appear online could be a problem.
Although the CCAP Steering Committee did not give any specific changes they would put in place, Heck suggested people have the opportunity to appeal their records.
“People ought to be able to go through a process where their names are removed where they could have an explanatory paragraph by their record,” Heck said.
The state bar argued the records could be misinterpreted and negatively impact individuals’ chances at getting a job even after criminal charges have been dismissed.
The state bar petitioned the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2009. The State Bar asked the court to allow dismissed cases to be expunged from people’s records.
In testimony to the Legislative Council that reviewed the state bar’s petition, Director of State Courts A. John Voelker recommended looking into the erasure of dismissed cases, according to testimony transcripts.
“Currently the statutes dealing with expungement are so limited that judges don’t have the ability to expunge dismissed cases,” Voelker said.
Voelker gave an example of defense attorney’s having their clients plead guilty to misdemeanors instead of trying to get them dismissed because the convictions could be expunged.
Encouraging individuals to plead guilty rather than pursue an acquittal due to handling of records is not how the system should work, Voelker said in his testimony.
Wisconsin Deputy Attorney General Raymond P. Taffora also sent a memorandum to the Legislative Council on behalf of Attorney Gen. J.B. Van Hollen and the entire Wisconsin Department of Justice urging the council to allow criminal records to contain dismissed charges.
Taffora said state statutes entitle the public to information regarding anything concerned with the government. Taffora added that even when there is not a conviction, the public has a “legitimate interest” in knowing.
“At minimum, these case records show how elected officials and law enforcement are performing their duties and how they are using – or misusing – public resources,” Taffora said.
