Genele Laird, who is 18, will not immediately face criminal charges for her actions last month at East Towne Mall. Instead, Laird will be referred to the Dane County Community Restorative Court, even though she would normally be ineligible because some of her charges included felonies. Upon successful completion, the criminal charges will be dismissed.
Laird is getting access to the restorative justice program almost entirely because of the local and national outrage that erupted after cellphone footage of her June 21 arrest went viral. The forceful takedown of Laird by Madison police reopened a rift between cops and community that never really closed after the officer-involved death of Tony Robinson.
It also probably helped Laird’s case that Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne is facing an opponent in next month’s primary election. Ozanne and Madison Police Chief Mike Koval have political incentive to push this off to the side as quickly as possible — particularly with news of another officer-involved shooting on June 30.
But what if someone hadn’t recorded Laird’s arrest on video? What if the community hadn’t taken her case to heart?
Without the video of her arrest, Laird would be looking at a potential felony conviction. A felony conviction would hang over her for the rest of her life.
I’m not trying to minimize her actions. She allegedly threatened others, flashing a knife, spitting on and hitting officers. She deserves to face consequences for her actions, as I believe she will in the restorative justice program. But I don’t think she deserves to have her life permanently altered by one very bad afternoon.
People can feel the impact of a felony conviction decades later. Even if the practice is illegal, convicted felons face discrimination when looking for a job or housing. It can be an incredibly heavy price to pay for being a teenager with a woeful lack of judgment.
Despite an ever-increasing body of research that says people under 25 haven’t developed full rational decision-making skills, our society still charges 17-, 18- and 19-year-olds with felonies.
We don’t trust 18-year-olds with alcohol or rental cars. An 18-year-old is technically an adult in the same way Bernie Sanders is technically still running for president. It’s true on paper, but it’s a silly idea to take seriously.
Charging teenagers with felonies leads to some mind-blowing outcomes. For example, some 17-year-olds in Brown County illegally voted in this spring’s presidential primary. For committing voter fraud, they might be tried as adults, which is punishable under law with up to nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine.
Outside of pleading down to a misdemeanor, young defendants in Wisconsin — the ones without viral videos — have few options to avoid a felony charge. There’s the Dane County Deferred Prosecution Unit, aka “the first offenders program.” But that’s offered sparingly, particularly for youth of color. A 2011 study found that white Dane County defendants were almost twice as likely to have their cases end with deferred prosecution compared to black defendants.
Since this study, Ozanne, to his credit, has added new programs to the Deferred Prosecution Unit specifically designed to address the needs of people of color.
There’s also expungement, where court records can be sealed for offenses that occurred before the age of 25. But that can be a lengthy court process and isn’t foolproof. For example, the Wisconsin Department of Justice keeps the conviction in a searchable database, and it can show up on an employer’s background check.
The Dane County Community Restorative Court, the program Laird has entered, offers a new and innovative opportunity to help young people who have committed a crime before they go down a troublesome path.
This isn’t an attempt to let young people escape consequences. Restorative justice, when done authentically, requires real work on the part of the offender. In many cases, it ends up being more work than paying for a citation. Good restorative justice programs offer a better learning opportunity than a ticket or jail time. Just as importantly, restorative justice gets the victims of the offense involved and helps them heal as well.
At the moment, Community Restorative Court is still a pilot program aimed specifically at south Madison, and it is currently limited only to misdemeanor charges.
But the district attorney has been willing to make exceptions when the defendant has social media outrage at his or her back. If the pilot program proves successful, it should be expanded countywide. Young adults with lower-level felony charges should be eligible for the program as long as they meet other basic requirements of the program.
We owe Dane County’s young people, particularly those of color, a shot at restorative justice. Even when nobody is posting videos of them on Facebook.
Alan Talaga co-writes the Off the Square cartoon with Jon Lyons and blogs at isthmus.com/madland.