Marinette Co. sentences 86% above state average
Druggies and dealers be warned, Marinette County is not the place to feed your habit or ply your trade.
Sentences on 12 of the most common felony charges averaged 86 percent above the state average over the past decade, a Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team analysis found. It was the only county that deviated more than 50 percent from the state average, among the 51 counties with sufficient data to be part of the study.
“I guess I’d have to say that I’m pleased to learn of the results,” said Marinette County District Attorney Allen Brey, who has held the office since 2009 but served as a prosecutor in the county since 1993. “The people in this county believe that if you commit crimes, you have to be held accountable for them. And while we believe in rehabilitation, at the same time the person committed whatever crime they’re being sentenced on, and there’s a price to be paid.”
One example? The 41-month average sentence for heroin delivery in Marinette County was more than triple the 11-month average in Columbia County. The analysis examined only the length of the jail or prison sentence imposed at the initial sentencing.
Interactive graphic: Sentencing harshness by county
Related:Judicial philosophies drive sentence disparities
Full I-Team report: WisconsInjustice series
Columbia was the lightest-sentencing county among the 51 in the analysis, with sentences averaging 40 percent below the state average.
Brey said the sentencing has been in many ways a response to the influx of heroin, which in recent years claimed more lives per capita there than any other Wisconsin county. Heroin offenses have increased, as well as violent crimes committed by its users. Brey said they went from having a couple of armed robberies through all of the 1990s to having at least one per quarter.
“You sell heroin here, I don’t care if you don’t have any prior offenses. You’re still selling poison, you’re going to prison,” Brey said. “I think our sentences reflect the sentiment of the community when looking at these crimes.”
Sentences in seven counties were at least 25 percent below the state average in our study: Columbia, Vilas, Calumet, Barron, Jefferson, Chippewa and Manitowoc.
Four counties were at least 25 percent above the state average, with Lincoln, Marathon and Brown counties joining Marinette.
The differences weren’t merely geographic or demographic. County-level priorities and culture mean the same crime can yield widely disparate sentences even in similar, nearby counties.
A conviction for substantial battery yielded an average sentence of five months in jail in Sheboygan County from 2005-14, while sentences in bordering Fond du Lac County averaged nearly 11 months.
Sentences for fifth- and sixth-offense drunken drivers averaged 13 months in Marathon County, but 20 months in neighboring Shawano and Oconto counties.
Eric Litke: 920-453-5119, or elitke@gannett.com; on Twitter: @ericlitke.