Administering Entity
The Wisconsin Crime Laboratories (Division of Law Enforcement Services, DOJ)
No program or law found.
Arrestees: Yes. Not Booking Station Rapid Ready, probable cause/charges required
Qualifying Crimes: A “violent crime” — enumerated felonies including first- and second-degree intentional homicide; mayhem; first, second, and third-degree sexual assault; strangulation and suffocation; false imprisonment; human trafficking; kidnapping; arson; burglary; carjacking; robbery; sexual assault of a child; first- and second-degree reckless homicide; felony murder; battery and aggravated battery; and others — plus solicitation, conspiracy, and attempt to commit any of them. Also covered: any juvenile taken into custody for an offense that would be a violent crime if committed by an adult.
Time of Collection: At booking — but no upload to the database may occur unless the arrest (or juvenile custody) was on a warrant, or until after a probable cause hearing, or after the person failed to appear at the initial appearance, preliminary examination, or delinquency proceeding, or waived the preliminary examination.
Expungement: On request, with a certified court record showing that each qualifying offense was reversed, set aside, or vacated, or that the qualifying arrest was dismissed — and also where the case reached final disposition without a violent-crime conviction, or one year has passed since the arrest with no violent-crime charge filed (Wis. Stat. § 165.77(4)(am)2).
Statutes / Case Law
§ 165.77.Deoxyribonucleic acid analysis and data bank
§ 165.84.Cooperation in criminal identification, records and statistics
WI ADC § Jus. 9.05. Use of human biological specimens for DNA data bank
For expungement information. See DNA – Services | Wisconsin Department of Justice (https://www.wisdoj.gov/Pages/CriminalJusticeServices/dna-deoxyribonucleic-acid.aspx) and the official expungement request form (DJ-LE-177).
Convicted Offenders: Yes
Qualifying Crimes: Felonies and misdemeanors (a narrower set applies to persons convicted before 2015). Also: juveniles adjudicated delinquent for (1) acts that would be felonies if committed by an adult, or (2) enumerated misdemeanors (fourth-degree sexual assault; endangering safety by use of a dangerous weapon; lewd and lascivious behavior; prostitution; patronizing prostitutes; pandering; failure to submit a biological specimen; and exposing genitals, pubic area, or intimate parts).
Time of Collection: Where the person is present in court for the finding of guilt, the county sheriff collects the sample there; the statute is otherwise silent.
Expungement: By written request, with a certified court record showing that each qualifying offense was reversed, set aside, or vacated.
Statutes / Case Law
W.S.A. § 165.76. Submission of human biological specimen
§165.77. Deoxyribonucleic acid analysis and data bank
§165.84. Cooperation in criminal identification, records and statistics
W.S.A. § 971.17. Commitment of persons found not guilty by reason of mental disease or mental defect
WI ADC § Jus. 9.04. Submission of human biological specimen for DNA data bank
For expungement information. See DNA – Services | Wisconsin Department of Justice (https://www.wisdoj.gov/Pages/CriminalJusticeServices/dna-deoxyribonucleic-acid.aspx) and the official expungement request form (DJ-LE-177).
Legislative History
1993 Wisconsin Act 16 Early 1993 session amendment to § 165.77;. Likely a technical or conforming amendment predating Act 98’s more comprehensive DNA overhaul.
1993 Wisconsin Act 98 (primary DNA database creation statute) Created Wisconsin’s DNA data bank program. Established the State Crime Laboratories’ authority to collect, analyze, and maintain DNA profiles from convicted sex offenders and murderers, and created the companion collection mandate in § 165.76. This is the foundational legislation for the entire program.
1995 Wisconsin Act 440 – 1995 Senate Bill 182 Wisconsin’s sex offender registration law. Required persons found to be sexually violent under ch. 980 to provide biological specimens for DNA analysis, expanded which categories of offenders must submit specimens under § 165.76, and updated § 165.77 to exclude those specimens from the general non-law-enforcement use prohibition. Also created lie detector testing requirements for sex offenders.
2005 Wisconsin Act 60 – 2005 Assembly Bill 648 Required retention and testing of biological evidence in criminal cases, extended statutes of limitations for sexual assault prosecutions, reformed eyewitness identification procedures, and mandated audio/visual recording of custodial interrogations. The § 165.77 amendment aligned the DNA data bank’s evidence retention obligations with these new requirements.
2013 Wisconsin Act 20 – 2013 Assembly Bill 40 Executive budget act (2013–15 biennium). Significantly expanded the DNA program by adding collection at arrest for felony violent crimes (§ 165.84(7)) and created the expungement procedures in § 165.77(4) allowing individuals to petition for removal of their DNA profile if charges are dismissed or they are not convicted.
2013 Wisconsin Act 214 – 2013 Senate Bill 373 Dedicated DNA and law enforcement standards bill. Refined the arrest-based DNA collection provisions added by 2013 Act 20, defined “violent crime” for DNA collection purposes, updated procedures for law enforcement agency submission of specimens to the crime laboratories, and corrected cross-references throughout §§ 165.76–165.77 and 165.84. This is the most DNA-specific standalone legislation since the 1993 Acts.
2021 Wisconsin Act 116 – 2021 Senate Bill 71 Overhauled Wisconsin’s sexual assault kit system. Repealed § 165.77(7) (which had addressed sexual assault forensic examinations) and replaced it with a new standalone statute, § 165.775, establishing mandatory timelines for health care professionals, law enforcement agencies, and the crime laboratories governing collection, transfer, processing, and 50-year storage of sexual assault kits. Also created civil liability protections for health care professionals performing sexual assault exams.
No program or law identified.
No program or law identified.
No program or law identified.
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/us/17wisconsin.html – DNA Profiles of Many Felons are Missing in Wisconsin
DNA Profiles of 12,000 Wisconsin felons missing from state database, audit finds – https://www.twincities.com/2009/09/16/dna-profiles-of-12000-wisconsin-felons-missing-from-state-database-audit-finds/
DNA Mix-Up Kept Suspected Serial Killer Free – https://www.npr.org/2009/10/08/113439725/dna-mix-up-kept-suspected-serial-killer-free
No program or law identified.