Wisconsin courts are making progress in addressing post-pandemic backlogs of criminal cases, Wisconsin Public Radio reports.
Resolving a Wisconsin felony case in 2023 took an average of 259 days, or roughly eight-and-a-half months, which is five days faster than the prior year, according to Wisconsin Court system data. The finding also comes despite the fact that statewide circuit courts saw greater caseloads last year — with 44,128 felony complaints filed — in comparison to 2022 — which saw about 260 fewer.
The system is still taking longer to resolve criminal cases than before the COVID-19 pandemic, however; a Wisconsin felony case in 2019 was resolved in roughly 183 days, or about 6 months, on average. That rose to 208 days in 2020 and 241 days in 2021. The pattern has been similar for misdemeanor cases.
