MEDIA ADVISORY
Madison, WI – The Assembly Committee on Corrections will hold a public hearing on the Second Chance Bill (Assembly Bill 387/Senate Bill 308) at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 3 in State Capitol Room 412 East.
The Second Chance Bill would return first-time, nonviolent 17-year-old offenders to juvenile court jurisdiction. The legislation, which has 54 legislative co-sponsors, would reverse portions of current law enacted in 1996.
For more information contact Attorney Andrea Gage, public relations coordinator, State Bar of Wisconsin. She can be reached at agage@wisbar.org, or by phone at (608) 250-6025.
State Bar President Patrick J. Fiedler, who previously served as a Dane County judge and the secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, will be testifying in favor of the bill.
“The vast majority of arrests of 17-year-olds are for relatively minor, non-violent offenses, and this bill provides a way to hold these youth accountable for their actions while giving them a second chance to grow into responsible adults,” Fiedler said.
Supporters of the Second Chance Bill include the conservative Right on Crime, a project of the Texas Public Policy Foundation; the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families; the State Public Defender; the Wisconsin Council of Churches; Disability Rights Wisconsin; WISDOM; the Wisconsin Catholic Conference; the Wisconsin Association of Family and Children’s Agencies; Wisconsin Family Ties; A Helping Heart; the National Association of Social Workers—WI Chapter; and the National Council on Crime and Delinquency.
Who:
State Bar President Patrick J. Fiedler
Members of the 2nd Chance Alliance
What:
Assembly Committee on Corrections Public Hearing
When:
10:30 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 3
Where:
State Capitol Room 412 East
