The Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau has completed a review of a formula used by the state Department of Administration to determine the prosecutorial staffing needs in counties throughout the state. Concerns were raised about the formula’s accuracy.
The formula looks at current staffing levels and the number and types of cases prosecuted. It is called the weighted caseload formula.
The audit found the following:
• There is a trend that has developed in recent years. Staffing levels of prosecutors have gone down while caseloads have increased.
• The weighted caseload formula system may be sound, but it needs improvement.
The number of full time prosecutor positions decreased from 444.35 positions in July 2002 to 424.65 positions in July 2006. Staffing levels are down.
Then you look at the numbers involving caseloads. From 2001 through 2005, the number of criminal cases prosecuted by district attorneys’ offices increased by 11.5 percent statewide, and the number of felony cases increased by 16.2 percent. The result has been that prosecutions are less timely, there has been an increase in decisions not to prosecute cases, and many cases are settled out of court with more lenient punishments. Such consequences are unsettling if we are going to be serious about fighting crime.
The audit found that in August 2006, using the current formula to determine staffing needs, 63 counties were understaffed by a total of 119.16 full time positions, while 8 were slightly overstaffed by a total of 1.83 full time positions. Wisconsin is understaffed by 117.33 full time positions. Milwaukee County has 121 positions, just under the 125 it needs.
The Legislative Audit Bureau discovered the formula relies on incomplete data and out-of-date measures of the time required to prosecute cases. The Audit Bureau recommends implementation of a data system called PROTECT that would provide more accurate information. It also suggests the Legislature determine if current staffing levels justify the addition of new prosecutorial positions.
Taking into account the state’s fiscal problems and other funding priorities, the Audit Bureau suggests the Legislature examine potential methods of decreasing the workloads of prosecutors. Smaller counties could develop “floating” pools of assistant district attorneys who could work in counties that suddenly experience heavier, unanticipated workloads.
The Legislative Audit Bureau wants the Department of Administration to report back to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee by March 14, 2008 on short-term plans to improve the weighted caseload formula, and the department’s plans to implement a new, more accurate data system to measure the workloads of prosecutors.
You can read the Audit Bureau’s report
here.
