Marquette to host bi-partisan forum on criminal justice reform

Posted at 12:30 p.m. on April 16, 2019

The Brillion News

MILWAUKEE — The state of Michigan’s experience with bipartisan criminal justice reform and its potential lessons for Wisconsin will be the subject of an upcoming “On the Issues with Mike Gousha,” Wednesday, April 17, from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Lubar Center at Marquette University Law School’s Eckstein Hall.

The program will feature three advocates for criminal justice reform.

John Proos, former Michigan Republican state senator from St. Joseph, and former chair of legislative budget subcommittees for corrections and the judiciary budgets, will discuss Michigan’s road to criminal justice reform and the bipartisan efforts that made it possible

Proos will be joined by Wisconsin state representatives Evan Goyke, D-Milwaukee, and Michael Schraa, R-Oshkosh. Goyke and Schraa will describe their perspectives on criminal justice, the reform initiatives they are promoting and the possibility for bipartisan action in Wisconsin.

Goyke is a graduate of Marquette Law School and has served in the state assembly since 2013. He is currently a member of the Joint Committee on Finance.

Schraa also took office in 2013 after a career as a local businessman and stock broker. He is among a group of northeast Wisconsin lawmakers who announced a call for criminal justice reform in February.

The program will include Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll, providing an overview of Wisconsin voter opinion on this important policy issue. The latest Marquette Law School poll, released April 10, sampled voter attitudes on a range of criminal justice reform issues, including mandatory minimum sentencing, expanded job training for prisoners, increased use of treatment programs as alternatives to jail for offenders with drug or alcohol issues and state spending for prosecutors and public defenders.