Milwaukee Receives MacArthur Grant To Help Improve Its Criminal Justice System

Milwaukee County Chief Judge Jeffrey Kremers says a new grant from the MacArthur Foundation will help boost local efforts to reduce the number of people sent to jail and prison.

Milwaukee is one of 20 jurisdictions across the country to receive the $150,000 grant awarded this week. It puts the county in the running to receive up to $2 million to change its criminal justice policies.

Kremers said the next step is to create a plan that addresses the entire criminal justice process, beginning with arrests and ending with re-entry into the community. He said the goal is to lock up only the people who are the most dangerous.

“And other people who can be safely monitored and rehabilitated in the community … we do that with those people,” he said.

Kremers said the final product will be a set of initiatives aimed at reducing racial disparity in jails and prisons by ensuring arrests and convictions are based on the risk offenders pose to the community, and not on their race or socioeconomic status.