Gov. Jim Doyle signed legislation Thursday increasing incarceration time for repeat sex offenders and expanding the state's DNA database to allegations of exposure, a move which the Madison Police Department and state Sen. Tim Reynolds, R-West Allis, said will work to curb sex offenses at their earliest stage of development.
The legislation will increase the option of maximum prison sentences for repeat sex offenders from 40 years to life imprisonment without parole.
Wisconsin's sex-predator laws and penalties are among the toughest in the nation—and they're working,\ Doyle said in a statement Thursday. ""We must remain vigilant, and we must keep improving our system for finding, prosecuting and punishing sex offenders.""
Department of Corrections spokesperson John Dipko said no fiscal estimates are available for how much the increased sentencing would cost the state. The average cost to house a prisoner is $26,200 per year.
Reynolds, who helped draft the DNA databank legislation, said the proposal received strong bipartisan support when it went before the state Assembly and Senate.
He added that exposure, categorized as a fourth-degree sexual assault offense, is often a developmental stage, and the addition of exposure to the DNA database could help prevent future crimes.
""Jeffrey Dahmer was first convicted of exposing himself in public, and it was just a progression,"" he said. ""If you can get a DNA sample from these guys early on, it could provide the clues for solving crimes later on.""
Jerome Geurts, director of the Wisconsin State Crime Lab, said DNA evidence is essential in their criminal-investigation process.
He added if the Crime Lab gets a profile where there is a less than one in seven trillion chance of coincidence, they consider it an identity match.
City of Madison Police Department Public Information Officer Mike Hanson said the information collected by the Wisconsin State Crime Lab is a useful tool in many of MPD's criminal investigations.
""We have a number of sex offenders in the community at different risk levels and we're aware of that—we make the community aware of that,"" he said. ""DNA evidence is now an investigative tool.""
Other pieces of legislation passed in accordance with the legislation on increased incarceration and DNA databases include protection of children in foster homes from sexual abuse and expanding the definition of sexual contact to encourage legal consistency.
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