Frederica Freyberg:
The safety of Wisconsin schoolchildren is under the magnifying glass after the Capitol Times reported on more than 200 teachers accused of sexual misconduct or grooming of students since 2018. That included teachers who were able to reapply for a teaching license, according to the reporting. In response come proposals for new laws and better and more transparent tracking of teacher licensing, including the reasons for revocation. Republican State Senator Jesse James is author of a new bill that would make grooming a felony and include prison time. He joins us now. And, Senator, thanks very much for being here.

Jesse James:
Thank you for having me.

Frederica Freyberg:
So one of the things that your bill does is set a definition for grooming, and I’m just going to read it. It is “a course of misconduct, pattern of behavior or series of acts intended to condition, seduce or entice a child for the purpose of sexual activity or exploitation.” How does that definition help to investigate, charge, and remove educators who are predators?

Jesse James:
This isn’t about just educators. It could be law enforcement. It could be doctors. It could be just general citizens within our communities. So I think the story breaking out just intensifies and actually brings forth the true need for this grooming statutory language to be included in our statutes. I think the sensitive crimes that I have investigated as a law enforcement officer, having these additional tools and mechanisms available for charging is extremely valuable. And with the amount of times that each grooming act is defined, you can have a person that is charged with multiple felonies with just the grooming statute alone. And I think when we get to the courts in the charging of these cases, I think more is better. It brings more negotiation. It brings more potential compromise to not drag these cases out to a 12-person jury trial. It brings on more plea agreements in having these people realize that you’re guilty. I mean, I’ve had a pretty successful career as a sensitive crimes’ investigator back in the day. And these — this was never available but I can specifically think of cases where it’s totally applicable because there seems to be grooming in every single type of child sexual assault case.

Frederica Freyberg:
Indeed, what does grooming look like in practice?

Jesse James:
Oh my, it could be where an individual will literally pick up a young lady after school and take her out to eat, out to buy a new pair of shoes, out shopping, getting her her own private cell phone. It could be text messaging that, you know, simply saying that you look really nice today and, you know, flattering comments and stuff. Stuff that would not be normal where if I had my daughter in high school and I look at her phone and I see a text message like that, it would definitely raise concern.

Frederica Freyberg:
Why has it taken so long for someone to write a bill that would turn into law in the state of Wisconsin on this?

Jesse James:
That is an awesome question. I think the traditional ways of grooming are being more like upscaled with the amount of technology that’s available, the apps that are out there. Trying to keep up with technology today, I think that is one of the challenges in the amount of grooming that’s going on through technology. I think it’s really intensified and it’s dramatically increased. We need to address it.

Frederica Freyberg:
Do you think, given the gravity of this, the state will throw its weight behind this and funding to tightening up not just, like, the statute around grooming, but having to do with revocations of educators’ licenses and, you know, making that process more transparent.

Jesse James:
I think there will be strong support for this. The governor has already expressed his support for this. And I think that having this extra tool available for specific crime of grooming is going to be highly beneficial for any type of case to help, hopefully deviate or have these individuals that like to prey on our children think twice about it.

Frederica Freyberg:
And this bill, soon to be law apparently, will help with that. Senator Jesse James, thanks very much.

Jesse James:
Thank you very much. I appreciate the conversation today.