The ACLU of Wisconsin today published a report highlighting how the municipal court processes in Wisconsin inherently criminalize poverty and have racially disparate effects.
This report, entitled “Failure to Pay: The Use of Debt-Based Carceral Sanctions and Warrants in Wisconsin’s Municipal Courts,” was researched and written by Dr. Emma Shakeshaft, ACLU of Wisconsin senior staff attorney and researcher.
Shakeshaft compiled the data and sent open records requests to Wisconsin’s municipal courts. The consequences of municipal court costs and how they further exacerbate poverty and racial inequality have received national attention. However, little is known about the scope of debt collection practices in Wisconsin’s municipal courts.
“Federal, state, and local governments throughout the United States have generated billions of dollars of revenue through punishment and the threat of incarceration,” the report states. “Municipal courts in Wisconsin, which do not enforce criminal penalties, have gone so far as to order the arrest and jailing of people who fail to pay their municipal tickets or fall behind on their payments, in addition to other debt-based sanctions. In 2023, municipal courts in Wisconsin collected a total of $35,128,718.”
This report finds that of the 173 municipal courts that responded, most do not issue commitments or warrants. However, at least 52 courts still use these harmful tactics.
“As many scholars and advocates have previously found, carceral sanctions for failure to pay municipal forfeitures create an unequal system of punishment: one for those with financial means and one for those without,” Dr. Shakeshaft said. “People who are able to pay a municipal court ticket can address the citation without ever having to step in court or think about the ticket again. People who cannot pay the citation amount in full experience increased court and law enforcement involvement and a long series of harmful consequences that create barriers to well-being, employment, and community involvement.”
This report urges municipal courts to eliminate the use of incarceration and warrants when someone fails to pay a municipal forfeiture and to remove all active warrants and commitments.
