A New Commission?

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Governor Doyle has appointed a Commission to Reduce the Racial Disparity in Wisconsin's Criminal Justice. The key is to figure out why Wisconsin has the third highest ratio (18:1) of incarcerated minorities to whites, and to fix it.

While the main charge of the group seems to be to look for discriminatory practices throughout the state's criminal justice system, the story said the governor wants to consider how poverty, parental involvement, education and abuse all factor into the crimes. That is certainly a laudable goal, but doesn't an examination of the root causes of crime deserve its own high-profile commission?