Attorney General Candidate Defends Program For Parents Who Use Corporal Punishment

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne, a Democratic candidate for attorney general, is defending a program he launched to deal with parents who use corporal punishment to discipline their children.

The program allows parents who plead guilty to using excessive force with their children to avoid jail time, if they go through an 18-month parenting program to teach them more effective nonviolent methods of managing their children’s behavior. Ozanne’s three opponents in the attorney general’s race say the program lets child abusers off the hook.

Ozanne rejected that claim today during an interview at the Milwaukee Press Club.

“This program does not let people off the hook,” said Ozanne. “It addresses the offender and looks to make positive change by increasing services. It’s more onerous. The amount of supervision that we have for these people — it is not a freebie. They are not getting off.”

Ozanne says similar programs in other states have been successful at reducing repeat child abuse charges for parents who’ve gone through the program. He says his office is gathering data now he believes will show similar success for the Dane County project which began last fall.