Wisconsin Criminal Records

Wisconsin is one of the most open states in the country. The court system posts every circuit court case in all 72 counties on one free site, the Department of Justice sells a name check of the state repository for $7, and the public records law lets any person inspect an arrest record without a reason. What Wisconsin does not have is much of a way out: its expungement statute reaches only offenders under 25, and only if they asked at sentencing. This page gives the Wisconsin rule and the Wisconsin search for each record, with government sources only.

The Wisconsin Court System's Consolidated Court Automation Programs page states it in one line: "Anyone with access to the Internet can view public case information on statewide circuit court cases using WCCA and public appeal information in WSCCA." Wisconsin Circuit Court Access, which most people still call CCAP, covers the circuit courts, which hear every felony and misdemeanor in the state, by party name or case number, with the charges, the events, the disposition and the sentence. Cases the law shields, and cases expunged under the statute below, are removed from it. Because WCCA is complete, free and statewide, it is also the source of nearly every "Wisconsin criminal record" a background check company sells, and the criminal records page explains what such a copy misses.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice's criminal background check page explains that the Crime Information Bureau maintains "the state's Centralized Criminal History (CCH) database" and that "public access to criminal history record information is provided through the Wisconsin Online Record Check System (WORCS)," at recordcheck.doj.wi.gov. A name-based search is $7 per record and a fingerprint-based search $20, and anyone may request one on anyone. The result is the state's record of Wisconsin arrests and dispositions reported to the Bureau, by name and date of birth, with the usual limit of every name search, which the criminal records page explains.

Wisconsin's expungement statute, section 973.015, is narrow. In the statute's words, when a person is under the age of 25 at the time of the offense and the maximum penalty "is 6 years or less, the court may order at the time of sentencing that the record be expunged upon successful completion of the sentence if the court determines the person will benefit and society will not be harmed by this disposition." The order has to be made at sentencing; a person who did not ask then cannot ask later, and a person 25 or older at the offense cannot ask at all. An expunged Wisconsin case is removed from WCCA and marked at the Department, though not destroyed in law enforcement files. The pardon, from the Governor, is the other route, and it does not remove the record. A copy that left before an expungement is reached through the federal rule on complete and up to date public records.

Wisconsin's public records law, in section 19.35, provides that any person may inspect or copy a public record, without giving a name or a reason, and arrest records, booking records and incident reports are public records, with the investigative file withheld while an investigation is open, as the Department of Justice's public records page and the enforcement provisions in section 19.37 set out. Who is in custody is in the Department of Corrections' offender locator, where "information regarding offenders with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) is made available as a public service and in the interest of public safety," and in the county jail rosters, Milwaukee County's and Dane County's for the two largest, linked from the county pages. The arrest records page covers the rest.

A Wisconsin judgment entered in the county's judgment and lien docket is a lien on the debtor's real property there for ten years: under section 806.15, "every judgment properly entered in the judgment and lien docket showing the judgment debtor's place of residence shall, for 10 years from the date of entry, be a lien on all real property of every person against whom the judgment is entered which is in the county where the judgment is rendered," and the judgment itself may be enforced for twenty years. The court records page covers where the dockets are searched.

Wisconsin is divided into two federal judicial districts under 28 U.S.C. 130. The Eastern District covers the counties of Brown, Calumet, Dodge, Door, Florence, Fond du Lac, Forest, Green Lake, Kenosha, Kewaunee, Langlade, Manitowoc, Marinette, Marquette, Menominee, Milwaukee, Oconto, Outagamie, Ozaukee, Racine, Shawano, Sheboygan, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha, Waupaca, Waushara and Winnebago, with court held at Green Bay, Milwaukee and Oshkosh. The Western District covers the counties of Adams, Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Buffalo, Burnett, Chippewa, Clark, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Douglas, Dunn, Eau Claire, Grant, Green, Iowa, Iron, Jackson, Jefferson, Juneau, La Crosse, Lafayette, Lincoln, Marathon, Monroe, Oneida, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, Portage, Price, Richland, Rock, Rusk, Saint Croix, Sauk, Sawyer, Taylor, Trempealeau, Vernon, Vilas, Washburn and Wood, with court held at Eau Claire, La Crosse, Madison, Superior and Wausau. A federal case from any Wisconsin county is on one of those two dockets and on PACER, whose prices and gaps are on the criminal records page.

Whether a person was charged anywhere in Wisconsin: WCCA answers it, free, statewide, by name, with the docket, disposition and sentence.

Whether a person has a Wisconsin record at the Department of Justice: WORCS answers it for $7 by name and $20 by fingerprint.

Whether a person is in custody now: the county jail roster answers it, and the Department of Corrections locator for state prison and supervision.

Whether an old case can still be found: an expunged case is off WCCA, a judgment lien lasts ten years, and a copy that predates an expungement is reached through the federal rule.