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 — the 1993–95 biennial budget act, vetoed in part. This is the foundational DNA legislation.Section 2691m created § 165.76, “Submission of human biological specimen,” and section 2692 created § 165.77, “Deoxyribonucleic acid analysis and data bank.” Section 165.76 required a specimen from persons in prison or a secured correctional facility, on probation, parole, supervision, aftercare or corrective sanctions supervision, found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect and committed, or in institutional care, in each case for a violation of § 940.225(1) or (2) (first or second degree sexual assault) or § 948.02(1) or (2) (first or second degree sexual assault of a child), with a cooperative collection deadline of July 1, 1998 for those already under supervision. Section 165.77 directed the state crime laboratories to analyze specimens, maintain the data bank, compare profiles, and provided expungement where a conviction or adjudication is reversed, set aside, or vacated.
- SB 548 (1993) → 1993 Wisconsin Act 98, enacted December 10, 1993, vetoed in part. Amended §§ 165.76(3), 165.77(2)(b) and 165.77(3) — each expressly identified in the act as “as created by 1993 Wisconsin Act 16.” Expanded the § 165.76 population to add persons on conditional transfer under § 51.35(1) or conditional release under § 971.17, and persons ordered by a court under §§ 48.34(15), 51.20(13)(cr) or 973.047 to comply. Created § 165.765, “Biological specimen; penalty and immunity,” establishing a fine for failing to provide a required specimen and immunity for those collecting.
- SB 182 (1995) → 1995 Wisconsin Act 440, enacted June 24, 1996. Wisconsin’s sex offender registration act. Amended §§ 165.76(2)(b)3., 165.76(3), 165.765(1) and (2)(a), 165.77(2)(b) and 165.77(3), and repealed and recreated several of the same provisions. Required persons found sexually violent under ch. 980 to provide specimens, added § 165.76(1)(d) extending the covered categories, and updated § 165.77 to exclude those specimens from the general non-law-enforcement use prohibition. Also created § 51.375 and related lie detector testing requirements for sex offenders.
- AB 648 (2005) → 2005 Wisconsin Act 60, enacted December 16, 2005. Repealed § 165.77(2m)(a) and amended § 165.77(2m)(b). The broader act required retention and testing of evidence containing biological material (creating § 968.205 amendments and § 968.073), extended time limits for prosecuting crimes related to sexual assault, prescribed law enforcement eyewitness identification procedures, and required audio or audio-visual recording of custodial interrogations with limits on admitting unrecorded statements. The § 165.77 changes aligned the data bank’s evidence obligations with the new retention regime.
- AB 40 (2013) → 2013 Wisconsin Act 20 — the 2013–15 biennial budget act. Significantly expanded the program by adding collection at arrest for felony and violent crimes at § 165.84(7), and created the expungement procedures at § 165.77(4) permitting a person to petition for removal of a profile where charges are dismissed or no conviction results.
- SB 373 (2013) → 2013 Wisconsin Act 214, enacted April 8, 2014. The dedicated DNA and law enforcement standards act. Amended §§ 165.76(1)(gm) and (4)(c), 165.77(3), and the full run of § 165.77(4)(am) expungement subdivisions; created § 165.77(4)(ag) and § 165.84(7)(ab); and restructured § 165.84(7) by consolidating, renumbering and amending its paragraphs. Refined the arrest-based collection provisions added by Act 20, addressed the DNA analysis surcharge, updated law enforcement submission procedures, and amended § 939.22(37) — the definition used for violent crime. It also expressly affected 2013 Wisconsin Act 20, section 9326(1)(h), adjusting that act’s own implementation provision.
- SB 71 (2021) → 2021 Wisconsin Act 116, enacted December 6, 2021. Repealed § 165.77(7) and § 175.405 and created § 165.775, “Sexual assault kits,” along with § 165.845(1r)(e) and § 895.537. Established mandatory timelines governing collection, transfer, processing and storage — including transfer to a law enforcement agency within 24 hours of collection, and where the victim chooses not to report and reporting is not otherwise required under § 48.981(2), transmission to the state crime laboratories for storage within 72 hours. Required DOJ rulemaking and created civil liability protections at § 895.537 for health care professionals performing sexual assault examinations.
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.