On today’s show, host Dana Pellebon is in conversation with District Attorney Ismael Ozanne about his office and the new community court that will help reduce racial disparities and recidivism in Dane County.
DA Ozanne has a long history in Madison, from playing soccer at UW-Madison to overseeing the report on racial disparities commissioned by Governor Doyle. He says that in a city with a growing population and growing law enforcement, there aren’t enough public defenders to represent the community. His office has 30 total prosecutors, but there should be 1 prosecutor for every 10,000 residents.
Many of these positions are funded by the state, but others like the Victim Witness Program and Crime Response Program are funded by the county. DA Ozanne discusses how these offices work together and how they will connect to a new initiative out of the Community Justice Council (CJC). The CJC was created in 2008 and now works to take criminal justice decisions out of the criminal courts…