It's a big issue: What to do about repeat offenders?
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PolitiFact Wisconsin looks at a claim made by a Republican lawmaker as the state proposes new ways to address the problem. State lawmakers want to toughen penalties for violent repeat offender.
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In a YouTube video to make that case - Representative Joe Sanfelippo made a claim about repeat offenders in Wisconsin. "Over 39% of violent criminals return to prison following their release," he said.
The New Berlin Republican also added repeat offenders were "terrorizing our neighborhoods."
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PolitiFact Wisconsin looked at a recidivism report in 2016 by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. It found that roughly 27% committed violent crimes.
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But Sanfellipo's 39% number also included people who ended up back in prison for violating conditions of their parole or probation.
"They may have missed a meeting or moved out of their home county. In other words they didn't commit a new crime, they were not terrorizing the neighborhood," said Dave Umhoefer with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
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For that reason PolitiFact Wisconsin rated Sanfelippo's claim Mostly True.
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"He was on target with the number," said Umhoefer, "but we knocked him down a little bit on the Truth-O-Meter because the context where he brought up. Terrorizing our neighborhoods isn't really quite right."
