Law enforcement officials, including federal and state prosecutors, the FBI and the city attorney, gathered Tuesday to offer a choice to the city’s 10 most prominent criminals: make a change with the help of community members or receive the maximum penalty allowed by law.

Madison Police Chief Noble Wray said the 10 offenders asked to attend the meeting were charged with a total of 413 criminal offenses, which took up a disproportionately large part of the city’s crimes.

Lt. Tom Woodmansee, an MPD detective, said the selected offenders are currently under state or federal supervision.

MPD spokesperson Joel DeSpain said police narrowed down a long list of offenders to 10 through a series of repeated processes, including looking into each offender’s family background.

Police requested that the names of the chosen criminals not be released to the public. 

Woodmansee added the focused deterrence program was crafted after long-term research and observing similar models in other cities.

DeSpain said this approach to lowering crime rates appeared to be working very well in other regions in the country. Both he and Woodmansee are confident it will succeed in the Madison area.

“There is a two-fold goal,” Woodmansee said. “The first is: Don’t do it again, or we will scrutinize you. We want you to succeed. We want to offer you better lives. The driving force is not the police. The driving force behind this thing is the community.”

Crimes committed by the offenders include but are not limited to homicide, drug dealing and multiple sexual assaults against children, Woodmansee said.

“Our kids are caught up in violence and drug dealing on the streets, and you are responsible,” Wray said to the offenders.

He added that a Special Investigations Unit was launched to monitor the offenders. This unit is comprised of Woodmansee and three other detectives.

The unit had received more than $700,000 in federal funding from the United States Department of Justice, Wray said.

Community members were also present at the meeting to urge the offenders to end the cycle of violence and to stop harming the community. They offered to assist the offenders who wanted to make a change with education, housing, transportation and employment.

Gary Jackson, spokesperson from the Drug Enforcement Administration, said he will seek the lengthiest penalty if the offenders commit drug-related crimes again. He added he would work personally with federal attorney to execute the prosecution.

“Prove to your community, prove to your family, prove to your community that you are worthy of this golden opportunity. Don’t let this opportunity go by,” Jackson said.

U.S. attorney John Vaudreuil said to the offenders that this is their last chance and that they are the fortunate few to be offered help from the community.

He added that if the offenders commit a crime again, their minimum prison stays would be 15 years. Given their histories, it is likely those sentences would be longer.

Mayor Paul Soglin said in a statement he is confident that this deterrence approach will not only have a positive effect on the community’s safety but also on the lives of the targeted individuals.

The offenders were instructed not to speak while the meeting was open to the media.