AB-624/ SB-610: Drug-Free Homeless Service Zones

While this bill has a laudable goal—protecting vulnerable individuals seeking shelter and
other services from homeless service providers—it runs the risk either criminalizing people in desperate need of shelter care and other services or creating a strong disincentive for people to seek out these services in the first place out of fear of
increased police interaction in and around shelter programs.

In Wisconsin, Wis. Stat. § 961.49 increases the maximum term of imprisonment by 5 years for a crime of delivering, distributing, or possessing with the intent to deliver or distribute controlled substances within 1,000 feet of any of the following:

• A state, county, city, village, or town park
• A jail or correctional facility
• A multiunit public housing project
• A swimming pool open to members of the public
• A youth center or community center
• Any private or public school premises and any premises of a tribal school
• A school bus

This bill would include homeless shelters to that list. To put the distance in perspective, a 1000-foot radius is approximately the size of three city blocks.

In densely populated urban areas, a 1000-foot radius around these enumerated locations often overlaps to the point where an entire city becomes a “drug-free zone.” Studies have shown that these zones do not necessarily track where drug activity is most prevalent, but rather where certain populations are concentrated. This effectively creates a two-tiered justice system based on geography rather than the nature of the crime. As a result, residents in cities face exposure to enhanced maximum penalties than those in rural or suburban areas for the exact same conduct.