Pretrial risk assessment should be expanded, not scrapped, advocates say

By MARK LISHERON | December 16, 2021 

For all of the outrage, rush to judgment, finger-pointing and recrimination, an influential group of legal experts on both ends of the political spectrum agree that it would be a mistake to make sweeping changes to the front end of the judicial process in Wisconsin because of Darrell Brooks Jr.

The case of Brooks, the suspect in the Waukesha parade attack, has brought into sharp relief the way that judges in the state set bail and, in particular, their use of risk assessment to determine if and when a defendant should remain in jail before trial for the sake of public safety.

There is no consensus on risk assessment. The court systems in just 18 of the state’s 72 counties make use of some form of data-based assessment to decide the risk of a defendant not returning to face trial, committing another crime or both, according to a state Supreme Court Office of Court Operations report.

In one of those counties — Milwaukee — Brooks had been assessed as a high risk of flight and the highest risk to commit a crime after being booked Nov. 3 into county jail on felony charges of recklessly endangering the safety of the mother of his child and bail jumping.

Eighteen days later, Brooks, out on $1,000 bail despite the warning, allegedly drove an SUV through Waukesha’s annual Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring dozens of others.

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