Former State House of Representatives - Wisconsin-45 “To Those Who Have Signed Kareena Westervelt’s Petition,
Thank you for expressing concern about the placement of Sexually Violent Persons (SVPs) in the state of Wisconsin. I appreciate your interest in seeing what can be done to close these loopholes and make sure our community remains a safe place to live work, and raise a family. The recent placement of violent sex offenders who have victimized children in a house next to children in Beloit concerns me as it concerns you, and I have been working on multiple bipartisan pieces of legislation to address this issue.
Currently, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services has the ability to place sexually violent offenders in different parts of the state. DHS consults with local law enforcement, the Department of Corrections, and the Department of Justice when finding a placement location. However, just because local law enforcement or certain agencies express concerns about a specific placement location, it does not mean that such a concern will prevent the sexually violent person from being placed in that area. Courts have the ability to outweigh the concerns expressed by others and make the placement official.
As a state representative, it is my top priority to address community concerns. That is why I signed on to Assembly Bill 539. If this bill became law, it would protect communities like Beloit from having to house other communities’ most serious sex offenders. More specifically, AB 539 eliminates the ability of a court to place a Sexually Violent Person (SVP) outside of his or her home county for “good cause.” This means that any residence for an SVP on supervised release must be within the SVP’s county of residence. The bill also requires the SVP’s county of residence to form a temporary committee to identify an appropriate residential option for the SVP. This ensures that local residents have a voice in finding a placement that will be least harmful to the community.
AB 539 passed the Assembly by a vote of 89 to 5 on January 16. A slightly different version passed the Senate by a vote of 32 to 0 on January 20. If/when one version of the bill is agreed upon by both houses, it will head to the Governor’s desk and be signed into law. The Senate will next meet on March 20 and I hope they will pass the Assembly version of the bill and send it to the Governor.
In addition to signing on to AB 539, I proposed legislation to close a loophole in the Sexually Violent Persons commitment statutes (“Ch. 980”) on February 26th. This bill, co-authored by Sen. Janis Ringhand (D-Evansville) and Rep. Amy Loudenbeck (R-Clinton), was drafted in consultation with local law enforcement to address concerns that children are being put at risk due to flaws in current law. The bill changes the definition of “serious child sex offenders” in Ch. 980 to cover all sexually violent crimes against children under age 16 (instead of under age 13 in current law), including those considered by a court as part of sentencing when an offender pleads guilty to a lesser crime.
This new bill directly addresses issues that have occurred locally. As you know, a convicted violent sex offender from La Crosse, civilly committed under Ch. 980, was recently placed in a Beloit home. Although the offender’s victims had been children, he was placed next door to children. The offender’s placement was possible for two reasons:
(1) He was charged with 2nd -degree sexual assault, rather than 2nd degree sexual assault of a child (even though the victim was a child)
(2) He accepted a plea deal to dismiss the 2nd -degree sexual assault charge and instead plead guilty to a 3rd -degree sexual assault charge. This meant his classification under Ch. 980 did not prevent placement near a child as it otherwise would have.
As you also know, the Department of Health Services recently moved to place a second sexually violent offender with child victims into the same home, using the same loophole.
The safety of our community is my number one priority in the legislature. Current law is too limited in what child sex crimes lead to a sexually violent offender being restricted from living next to children. I believe this new bill, along with AB 539, will help protect our children from potential threats and ensure safety in our communities. Beloit has suffered two unfair sex offender placements in just the last few months, and I am fighting to make sure we fix loopholes in our laws to ensure this does not happen again.
Importantly, my latest bill, if passed into law, would require DHS to find a new placement for these two violent offenders that is not next door to children.
I hope you found this information helpful, and thank you again for expressing your concern about this important issue.
Sincerely,
Mark Spreitzer
State Representative
45th Assembly District
Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair”
