Each year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) collects statistical information about various types of crimes and publishes a summarizing report about crime in the United States. Violent crime in particular has decreased significantly across the United States as a whole over the past 20 years or so. However, violent crime still remains an issue across the country. According to the latest data available from the FBI, Wisconsin reported more than 17,000 occurrences of violent crime throughout the state in 2019. Wisconsin takes violent criminal offenses, such as murder, aggravated assault, sexual assault, and robbery, very seriously and convictions for any of those could result in severe sentences.

Violent Crime in Wisconsin

When the FBI collects crime data, they group the data into different categories with one of them being by offense type. In its yearly statistic report, the four crimes that are included under violent crimes are murder, aggravated assault, sexual assault, and robbery.

Homicide is one of the most serious and violent crimes with which you can be charged, especially if you are facing intentional homicide charges. In the state of Wisconsin, first-degree intentional homicide can result in a mandatory life prison sentence, while attempted first-degree homicide could carry a prison sentence that lasts for decades. This is what a North Dakota man is facing after he was apprehended recently in connection with the shootings of two Wisconsin law enforcement officers.  

Man Wanted for Attempted Homicide in North Dakota, Shoots Cops in Wisconsin

A manhunt was underway in early November in Waukesha County as police searched for a 23-year-old North Dakota man wanted for shooting two Wisconsin police officers. The incident occurred after two officers responded to a call about a car crash. During the stop, shots were exchanged and the two officers were hit, both suffering non-life-threatening injuries, while the 23-year-old fled on foot. The suspect is also wanted by police in Fargo, ND for an attempted homicide incident.

Being accused of any crime is a serious matter, but being accused of a violent offense often has much more significant consequences. Violent crimes tend to carry stiffer penalties than others. In most cases, these crimes carry the possibility of many different punishments, such as jail time, fines, probation, and a permanent criminal record. If you have been accused of committing assault and/or battery in Wisconsin, it can have a lasting impact on your personal and professional life. Therefore, it is crucial to speak to a criminal defense lawyer who can help build a strong defense on your behalf.

What Is Assault?

In a general sense, an assault occurs when an individual causes another person to reasonably fear bodily harm. Physical contact does not have to be made for assault charges to apply in Wisconsin. In most cases, however, the act also involves a battery offense, which is the charge that prosecutors typically focus on.

Many people automatically think that people who have violent tendencies are just acting out. What many people don't realize is that there are sometimes mental health conditions that cause the person to act in this manner. It is easy to think that someone who just stabbed or shot someone should be locked away in prison for life, but this doesn't address the underlying problem.

Many different mental health disorders can lead someone to do violent things. The issue here is that the person isn't going to overcome the problem by being put in prison. Instead, they need to receive mental health care that will help them. This is especially important if there is a chance that they will be released from prison at some point.

Unfortunately, the criminal justice system doesn't really focus on getting mentally ill people help. Instead, it just punishes for the actions that run afoul of the law. Some people think that these mentally ill individuals should just be kept away from weapons. While this sounds easy in theory, the reality is much worse.