To Enforce or Not to Enforce
You may have noticed by now that there are not a lot of cases within the Brown County Circuit Court archival collection that relate to moral crimes involving women. This is due to a couple of reasons, foremost among them the fact that the Brown County Circuit Court archival collection is missing files. These files were most likely destroyed, and, as such, create a gap of missing information that may have skewed the database as a result. In addition, generally speaking, women were prosecuted for crimes less than men. It is also possible that women were prosecuted in courts outside of the Brown County Circuit Court. For example, women may have been involved in more cases at the municipal court level. A last and very important reason for this is the possibility of a lack of law enforcement involving certain crimes like prostitution.
Nonenforcement of Moral Laws
The Teasdale Vice Committee reported in its findings in 1914 that there was a severe lack of enforcement of moral laws in Wisconsin. They reported multiple reasons for this. First, they believed the wording of moral laws made it difficult to gather evidence to use when brought to trial. Second, the committee cited what they believed was oversight of law enforcement officers who didn’t use “the laws and regulations now at their command” (Wisconsin Legislature, 84). According to the report, many law enforcement officers “remain inactive until some private citizen [came] before the court and signs a complaint” (Wisconsin Legislature, 84). Therefore, they found that it was up to the private citizen to take action even if they didn’t have the power and resources of law enforcement officers. However, even when faced with obvious evidence from these citizens, the committee reported that many of these officers, including district attorneys, looked the other way or did nothing about the accusations. This was possibly because these officers, believing public sentiment was in favor of these immoral districts, were afraid to make a move against them. Some of the statements collected by the committee highlights this viewpoint.
“I have not directed the police to take action against the houses of prostitution, because I think it is perhaps best for the morals of the people that they run, and I do not think it is violating my oath of office...I think public sentiment is generally in favor of allowing the chief of police to perform his duties to the best of his knowledge and belief...” (Wisconsin Legislature 1914, 150).
Mayor of Green Bay in 1914
The Committee was even able to get a quote from the Mayor of Green Bay, one of the highest ranking and most influential people in Brown County at this time.
“I think, at the present time, neither the chief of police here nor the sheriff feels that there is any great proportion of the citizens of the city desirous of strict enforcement of these laws… and for many years the people apparently were satisfied that there should be a red light district—that there should be law violation and that those who wished to commit a crime could go to that part of the city to commit the crime and it was all right, and I am not very much surprised the chief does not readily change” (Wisconsin Legislature 1914, 88).
Anonymous Man
''Complaint has been made to the officers of the city requesting them to close these houses. Sometimes they replied that they did not believe a majority of the people wanted them closed. Sometimes they replied that they were afraid of their own necks, if they should do it, and they wanted to hold their jobs and the higher officials would not support them in any such action” (Wisconsin Legislature 1914, 89).
Anonymous Reverend
''The great fault here is the laxness of our public officers in enforcing laws we have on the statute book, and I feel sure there would not be a house of prostitution in town if the district attorney would enforce the Linley law that was passed at the last session of the Legislature” (Wisconsin Legislature 1914: 89).