John T. Chisholm, please put an end to the youth crime epidemic in Milwaukee County.

Police are frustrated.

Communities are suffering.

Criminals are walking.

The Milwaukee County District Attorney will not charge juveniles as adults when they commit crimes.

For instance, when minors steal a car, lead police on a dangerous pursuit endangering many people, they will not face adult criminal charges and often will not be detained in juvenile detention facilities. According to West Allis, Wisconsin Police Department officer Rod Nelson their department will arrest a teenager for things like theft of a motor vehicle and the minor will be turned away from the youth detention facility and picked up by a parent the same day.

In 2017 Franklin, Wisconsin Police Chief said: "This is the frustration for law enforcement. First, there is a reluctance by the District Attorney’s Office to charge juveniles and secondly, there is a reluctance by judges to send these repeat offenders to detention. In most cases, juveniles arrested for being caught in a stolen auto will be released from custody within 3 days. -- Franklin Police Chief Rick Oliva

In 2002 the median age of pursuit suspects was 38. That is to say, if you took all the ages of people who were in a pursuit with Milwaukee police officers, the one in the middle would be 38. By 2017 that age had dropped to 18, meaning there were an equal number of people under 18 and over 18 who were being pursued. The kids under 18 were largely not charged with any crime and sent back to their homes with no consequences for their criminal and anti social behavior. ("Stollies: Inside Milwaukee's Stolen Car Epidemic," 2017, WTMJ4)

In April 2017, a 15 year old armed car thief is shown in a Youtube video waving around a loaded gun in stolen car in Milwaukee. Judge Gwendolyn Connolly refused to waive him into adult court despite his fingerprints being on 22 stolen cars, his long record and his gang affiliations. Courtesy of Alderman Robert Donovan, District 8, City of Milwaukee. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i5_avxMXtg )

Since there are no consequences for juvenile offenders, they repeat their criminal activity, endanger the safety of the community and move on to worse crime.

This petition is asking District Attorney John T. Chisholm to put an end to the youth crime epidemic in Milwaukee County and charge juvenile offenders as adults so they can face the consequences of their actions.