Court Opinion

ID: 9739055
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:07:55.155465+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:09.732180
License: Public Domain

FINE, J.
(concurring). Although I agree with most of the majority decision, I write separately to expand on one point, the use of victim impact considerations in sentencing, and to clarify another, the scope of Rule 904.04(2), Stats.
In discussing sentencing factors, the majority holds that the rehabilitative needs of the victim "may be considered by a trial court where appropriate." Majority opinion at page 496 (emphasis in original). I believe that *497the current state of the law makes it an appropriate consideration in every case.
" 'Two lives — the defendant's and the victim's — are profoundly affected by a criminal sentence. The court cannot make an informed decision on a just punishment if it hears only from one side.' " McLeod, Victim, Participation at Sentencing, 22 Crim. L. Bull. 501, 506-507 (1986) (quoting President's Task Force on Victims of Crime, Victims of Crime (1982) [hereinafter President's Task Force]). In a similar vein, the United States Sentencing Commission has written that any sentence "should be effective, just, and efficient for the defendant, the victim, and society." United States Sentencing Commission, Revised Draft Sentencing Guidelines 2 (Jan., 1987).
Crime takes a terrible toll on its victims. A 1985 survey of crime victims in Kentucky, for example, reported the typical devastation left in crimé's wake:
Results made from the victimization study suggest that in the short term (within a year of the incident) victims of crime were significantly more depressed and more fearful than non-victims, victims of violent crime reported the highest level of depression and fear, and victims of multiple incidents of crime during one year reported higher levels of depression and fear than did those who reported only one crime incident or no crime. In the long term, the level of fear in victims continued to be higher than the level of fear in non-victims and the long-term effects of violence on fear of crime are more pronounced than are the long-term effects of experiencing property crime.
7 Criminal Justice Statistic Ass'n, Inc., The CJSA Forum 2 (May, 1989). The heart of the matter is a perception of helplessness that infuses victims with a sense of their own vulnerability. Zehr & Umbreit, Victim *498Offender Reconciliation: An Incarceration Substitute?, 46 Fed. Probation 63, 64 (Dec., 1982). Thus, "[vjictims need to be given a voice and listened to if they are to experience that restoration of power which is necessary for psychological wholeness." Ibid. Cf. Morris v. Sloppy, 461 U.S. 1, 14-15 (1983) (Sparing victim the potential trauma of having to testify at new trial is an appropriate factor to consider in deciding whether to reverse a conviction based on an alleged marginal violation of defendant’s constitutional rights because "courts may not ignore the concerns of victims."). As the trial court and we recognize, victim rehabilitation is assisted "by responding to the victim's desire for retributive justice." McLeod, supra, at 505.
Any sentencing decision must assess not only the crime and the criminal but the needs of the community as well. See In re Judicial Administration: Felony Sentencing Guidelines, 120 Wis. 2d 198, 201, 353 N.W.2d 793, 795 (1984). As our decision in this case acknowledges, we serve the community by accommodating the rehabilitative needs of victims. Majority opinion at page 496.
Punishment tends to right the scales of justice that have been set askew by crime. See President's Task Force, supra, at 76-78. Charles E. Silberman has put it this way: "We punish criminals, in short, because justice, i.e., fairness, requires it; punishment is a way of restoring the equilibrium that is broken when someone commits a crime." C. Silberman, Criminal Violence, Criminal Justice 188-189 (1978). The efficacy of punishment thus extends beyond the utilitarian goals of deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation:1
*499"It is a mistake to consider the objects of punishment as being deterrent or reformative or preventive, and *500nothing else . . .. The truth is that some crimes are so outrageous that society insists on adequate punishment, because the wrongdoer deserves it, irrespective of whether it is a deterrent or not."
C. Silberman, supra, at 185 (quoting Lord Justice Den-ning of Great Britain). Thus, the Supreme Court has "long recognized that retribution itself is a valid peno-logical goal of the death penalty," South Carolina v. Gathers, 490 U.S. —, —, 109 S. Ct. 2207, 2214 (O'Connor, J., dissenting), and that it " 'is an element of all punishments society imposes.' " Ibid, (quoting Spaziano v. Florida, 468 U.S. 447, 462 [1984]).
A victim's suffering is not only a good measure of the crime's seriousness but, indeed, is a useful gauge with which to determine appropriate punishment. See President's Task Force, supra, at 76-78. Thus, felony victims in Wisconsin are entitled "[t]o have the court provided with information pertaining to the economic, physical and psychological effect of the crime" and to "have the information considered by the court." Sec. 950.04(2m), Stats, (emphasis added).2 Unless this information can actually affect the criminal's punishment, however, giv*501ing victims this voice is a mere gesture without meaning or substance — a whisper into the wind — and would contravene this state's legislatively expressed policy. Just as tort defendants, guilty of only negligence, take those they injure as they find them and are responsible for ensuing damages even though those damages may be aggravated by the injured person's special susceptibility to harm, Restatement (Second) of Torts sec. 461 (1965); Colla v. Mandella, 1 Wis. 2d 594, 600, 85 N.W.2d 345, 349 (1957), criminals, who intentionally inflict harm, are also subject to penalty enhancement that will vary with the psychological needs of their victims. Cf. Gathers, 490 U.S. at —, 109 S. Ct. at 2214 (O'Connor, J., dissenting) ("That the harm caused by a defendant's actions is relevant to the capital sentencer's moral judgment concerning the appropriate penalty, even if the defendant did not specifically intend that harm, is a principle recognized both in the decisions of this Court, and in legislative decisions concerning appropriate levels of punishment.").3
*502In sum, I agree that victim rehabilitation was an appropriate sentencing consideration in this case. It is, in my view, appropriate in every case; the precise weight that should be given to the victim's rehabilitative needs will, of course, vary with the circumstances and any decision in that regard rests within the sentencing court's sound discretion.
1 — 1 HH
In discussing Rule 904.04(2), Stats., the majority states: "To be admissible, the other acts evidence must be relevant to one of the statutory exceptions . . .." Majority opinion at page 493. This is misleading because it implies that the listed exceptions are exclusive rather than illustrative.4 That is not the case. State v. Bedker, 149 Wis. 2d 257, 264-265, 440 N.W.2d 802, 804 (Ct. App. 1989); State v. Shillcutt, 116 Wis. 2d 227, 236, 341 N.W.2d 716, 720 (Ct. App. 1983), aff'd on other grounds, *503119 Wis. 2d 788, 350 N.W.2d 686 (1984); 1 G. Joseph and S. Saltzburg, Evidence in America, ch. 14, sec. 14.2, at 3 (1987). Indeed, the rule's text is specifically not restrictive:
Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show that he acted in conformity therewith. This subsection does not exclude the evidence when offered for other purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident.
Rule 904.04(2), Stats., (emphasis added). Thus, for example, State v. Pharr, 115 Wis. 2d 334, 340 N.W.2d 498 (1983), recognized "that other crimes evidence is admissible '[t]o complete the story of the crime on trial by proving its immediate context of happenings near in time and place,' " Id. at 348, 340 N.W.2d at 504 (quoting Bailey v. State, 65 Wis. 2d 331, 347, 222 N.W.2d 871, 880 (1974)), even though complete-the-story evidence is not within the rule's listed examples. Accord, Shillcutt, 116 Wis. 2d at 236-237, 341 N.W.2d at 720.

 The utilitarian aspects of punishment are clear:
A study conducted by Kenneth Wolpin (then at Yale) compared *499what would happen if imprisonment was increased by 1% with what would happen if probation was increased by 1%. The conclusion was that twice as many crimes would be deterred by increasing imprisonment. Similarly, a study by Michael Block at the University of Arizona concluded that moving a typical property offender from probation to a two-year prison sentence would prevent 80 property crimes.
Abell, The Costly Crisis in Corrections, Wall St. J., Mar. 21,1989, editorial page. Incarceration not only reduces crime, it is cost effective as well. Thus, a National Institute of Justice study has shown that imprisonment of an additional 1,000 dangerous criminals would cost $25 million more per year but would prevent about 187,000 felonies, saving some $430 million in social costs attributable to those crimes not committed. E. Zedlewski, Making Confinement Decisions, National Institute of Justice, 4 (July, 1987).
The conclusion [that the costs of crime far exceed the costs of incarceration to prevent it] holds even if there are large errors in the estimates: Doubling the annual cost of confinement, halving the average crimes per offender, and halving the average cost per crime would indicate that $50 million in confinement investments would avert $107 million in social costs.
Ibid. In contrast, efforts at non-coercive rehabilitation have failed.
No approach to rehabilitation seems to work. Whether offenders are given traditional one-to-one psychotherapy or newer methods of group therapy, they return to crime at about the same rate as those given no therapy at all. Nor are recidivism rates affected by education, vocational training, social work counseling, or any other approach that has yet been tried.
C. Silberman, supra, at 184. In fiscal year 1985, Wisconsin spent a mere 1.5% of state and local direct expenditures for "corrections," which "includes costs and employment for jails ["with authority to hold prisoners beyond arraignment"], prisons, probation, parole, pardon, and correctional administration." Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, Justice Expenditure and Employment, 1985, 6, 8 (Mar. 1987).

 Rule 32(c)(2)(D) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure also requires that federal sentencing courts be given "an assessment of the financial, social, psychological, and medical impact upon, and cost" of the crime to the victim. Ibid. More than two/ thirds of the states have similar provisions. McLeod, supra, at 507-508 n. 22.
On August 3, 1989, after this opinion was released, sec. 972.14(3), Stats., was enacted. 1989 Wis. Act. 31, sec. 2858e. Section 972.14(3)(a) provides: "Before pronouncing sentence in a felony case, the court shall also allow a victim or family member of a homicide victim to make a statement or submit a written statement to be read in court. The court may allow any other person to make or submit a statement under this paragraph. Any statement *501under this paragraph must be relevant to the sentence." (Emphasis added.)

 The United States Supreme Court has prohibited consideration of so-called "victim impact statements" in capital cases. Booth v. Maryland, 482 U.S. 496, 502-503 (1987). This five to four decision was specifically limited by the majority to cases where the death penalty is at issue, id. at 507 n. 10, 509 n. 12. Booth's demise, however, may be just below the horizon. Four justices have questioned its analysis, Gathers, 490 U.S. at —, —, 109 S. Ct. at 2212, 2217 (O'Connor, J., dissenting, joined by Rehnquist, C.J. and Kennedy, J.; Scalia, J., dissenting), and Justice White, a dissenter in Booth, 482 U.S. at 515, joined with the majority in Gathers only because the Court was not yet ready to overrule Booth. See Gathers, 490 U.S. at —, 109 S. Ct. at 2211 (White, J., concurring). Neither Booth nor Gathers, however, con*502cerned or considered punishment's rehabilitative effect on the victim, which is the issue before us here.

 The majority's statement is borrowed almost verbatim from State v. Mink, 146 Wis. 2d 1, 13, 429 N.W.2d 99, 103 (Ct. App. 1988): "Other acts evidence must pass a two-step test prior to being admissible. First, the evidence must be relevant to one of the statutory exceptions." Id. at 13, 429 N.W.2d at 103 (citation omitted). Mink cites State v. Danforth, 129 Wis. 2d 187, 202, 385 N.W.2d 125, 131 (1986) in support of this proposition. Danforth phrased the test's first prong in similar language: "First, the trial court must fit the evidence within one of the sec. 904.04(2), Stats., exceptions," Danforth, 129 Wis. 2d at 202, 385 N.W.2d at 131, as did State v. Alsteen, 108 Wis. 2d 723, 729, 324 N.W.2d 426, 429 (1982), upon which the Danforth court relied. None of these cases, however, concerned a situation where "other acts" evidence was excluded because it did not fit one of the designated cubbyholes.