Wisconsin Diversion Programs: Eligibility, Terms, and Record Impact

Wisconsin diversion programs let a prosecutor pause a criminal case and route you through a set of conditions instead of pushing the case toward trial or a plea. The legal mechanism is a deferred prosecution agreement: a written contract between you and the district attorney (sometimes the Department of Corrections too) that suspends the prosecution while you complete what the agreement requires. Finish everything, and the charges are dismissed with prejudice, which means the state cannot refile them. Fall short, and the prosecution picks up exactly where it stopped.

There is no single statewide program. The statutes authorize several different frameworks, and counties build their own programs on top of that authority, so eligibility, conditions, and consequences depend heavily on which track you are on and where your case is filed.

Who Qualifies

Eligibility turns on the statute, the county, and the prosecutor’s discretion.

Section 971.37 covers domestic abuse cases and intra-family child sexual abuse cases. The statute lists specific offenses that qualify — crimes like battery, threats, criminal damage to property, and disorderly conduct when the conduct involves a spouse, former spouse, cohabitant, or co-parent.¹ The agreement is between the DA and the defendant, and the statute makes clear that agreeing to the program is not an admission of guilt.

Section 971.39 is broader on offenses but narrower on geography. In any county with a population under 100,000, the DA, the Department of Corrections, and the defendant can all agree to defer prosecution on any criminal charge. The catch: this version requires the defendant to admit in writing all elements of the crime charged, and the Department of Corrections handles the monitoring.²

Section 971.41 sets up a dedicated track for worthless-check cases, with restitution to the victim as the central goal.

Beyond those specific statutes, Section 971.37(5) confirms that prosecutors may use deferred prosecution agreements for other crimes too.³ Larger counties such as Milwaukee, Dane, and Winnebago have built their own diversion programs under that general authority. The DA’s office in each county sets its own criteria. These programs typically target first-time offenders charged with nonviolent misdemeanors such as retail theft, minor drug possession, and disorderly conduct. Violent felonies and cases involving serious harm to victims are usually excluded. The prosecutor weighs the facts, your criminal history, input from the victim, and whether diversion serves the public interest better than prosecution. In cases involving financial loss, your willingness and ability to make the victim whole often matter a great deal.

Wisconsin also funds Treatment Alternatives and Diversion (TAD) programs in many counties and tribal nations. These include drug courts, OWI courts, veterans courts, and mental health courts. Some TAD programs divert people before charges are even filed; others intervene after formal charging.⁴

What the Agreement Will Require

Every diversion program runs on conditions you have to meet for the length of the agreement. A few show up almost everywhere: stay crime-free, pay the program’s fees, and pay any applicable court costs. Beyond that, the terms are tailored to the case.

Common requirements include:

Community service. Wisconsin law authorizes community service as a condition of any deferred prosecution program. The hours must be reasonable given the seriousness of the alleged offense, and both you and the organization receiving the work have to agree to the arrangement.⁵
Treatment and counseling. Section 971.39 requires participation in therapy or community programs and compliance with the conditions those programs impose. TAD programs, especially drug and mental health courts, usually put treatment at the center of the agreement.²
Restitution. When the offense caused financial harm, the agreement typically requires full repayment to the victim.
Compliance reporting. Under Section 971.37, you must file monthly written reports with the DA’s office certifying that you are meeting every condition. Other programs use the Department of Corrections or a county coordinator for monitoring.¹

Fees and Surcharges

Participation costs money. The worthless-check statute lets the DA or a private administrator charge fees to cover their costs under the agreement, and authorizes payment plans of up to six months for defendants facing financial hardship.⁶ County-run programs charge their own administrative fees, which vary by jurisdiction. Domestic abuse agreements can include statutory surcharges, including a domestic abuse surcharge and, in some cases, a GPS tracking surcharge.¹ The DA has discretion to reduce surcharges if full payment would harm the offender’s family.

How Long It Lasts

The statutes don’t set a maximum length. Section 971.37 says only that the agreement suspends prosecution “for a specified period” if you comply.¹ In practice, misdemeanor agreements in county programs often run six months to a year. Cases involving substance abuse treatment or more serious charges tend to run longer. The length is set case by case, with enough time built in to realistically complete every condition.

If You Complete the Program

When you satisfy every condition within the agreed timeframe, the charges are dismissed with prejudice. Both Section 971.37 and Section 971.39 use the same mandatory language: the court “shall dismiss, with prejudice.”²¹ Once you’ve met the conditions, dismissal isn’t discretionary. The DA files a motion, the judge signs the order, and the clerk updates the case status to a dismissal rather than a conviction. Keep a copy of the dismissal order; it’s your proof the matter is closed.

If You Violate the Agreement

This is where the agreement’s leverage lives. Under both Section 971.37 and 971.39, if you fail to comply, the prosecutor can resume the original criminal prosecution.² The case was never dismissed, only paused, so the charges come back exactly as they were.

Under Section 971.37, either you or the DA can terminate the agreement in writing before the period ends, at which point prosecution resumes.¹ Section 971.375 lets prosecutors impose graduated sanctions short of restarting the case, so a missed appointment or late payment may bring added requirements or stricter terms rather than an immediate return to court.⁷

If prosecution does resume under Section 971.39, there is an important protection. The written admission you signed as part of the agreement, along with any statements you made during the program, cannot be used as evidence against you at trial.² The state has to build its case without them.

What Stays on Your Record

A dismissal is far better than a conviction, but it doesn’t erase the case. Wisconsin’s Circuit Court Access Program (CCAP, also called WCCA) is the public online court records system most employers and landlords check. Under current WCCA policy, dismissed misdemeanor and felony cases stay visible on the system for two years from the date of disposition, then come off.⁸ During those two years, a name search will show the charge and its dismissed status.

There’s a wrinkle for multi-count cases. If some charges in the case ended in a conviction while others were dismissed, the dismissed charges stay visible alongside the conviction and don’t drop off at the two-year mark.

Wisconsin’s expungement statute, Section 973.015, applies to convictions, not dismissed charges, and is limited to people who were under 25 at the time of the offense and whose maximum possible sentence was six years or less.⁹ Because a completed diversion program produces a dismissal rather than a conviction, the expungement statute generally doesn’t apply. The WCCA two-year removal policy is what actually controls how long your dismissed case stays publicly searchable.

Immigration Risk Before You Sign

Diversion that avoids a Wisconsin conviction can still create a conviction under federal immigration law, which uses its own definition. The Immigration and Nationality Act treats someone as “convicted” when a judge or jury found guilt, or the person entered a guilty plea, a nolo plea, or “admitted sufficient facts to warrant a finding of guilt,” and the judge ordered some form of punishment, penalty, or restraint on liberty.¹⁰

That matters because Section 971.39 requires a written admission of all elements of the crime charged, plus therapy, programs, and monitoring.² That combination could meet the federal definition even when Wisconsin courts treat the final result as a dismissal. Section 971.37 is better positioned on this issue because it says consent to the agreement is not an admission of guilt.¹ The analysis is fact-specific. If you are not a U.S. citizen, talk to an immigration attorney before signing anything. Deportation, denial of naturalization, and reentry bars are not risks to navigate on assumptions about what “dismissed” means.

Professional Licensing Disclosure

Even after a dismissal, licensing boards and professional regulators may ask about arrests, charges, and deferred prosecution agreements on applications and renewals. Healthcare workers, teachers, financial professionals, attorneys, and other licensees should check the exact wording of their board’s disclosure questions before entering a diversion program. Some ask whether you have ever been “charged with” a crime, not just convicted, and a deferred prosecution agreement means you were charged. If the question is that broad, disclose the dismissed case. An honest disclosure almost always causes less damage than an omission that comes to light later.

1
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 971.37 (2025) – Deferred Prosecution Programs; Domestic Abuse and Child Sexual Abuse
2
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 971.39 – Deferred Prosecution Program; Agreements with Department
3
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes Chapter 971 – Criminal Procedure
4
Wisconsin Department of Justice. Treatment Alternatives and Diversion (TAD) Program Report 2025
5
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 971.38 – Deferred Prosecution Program; Community Service Work
6
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 971.41 – Deferred Prosecution Program; Worthless Checks
7
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 971.375 – Deferred Prosecution Agreements; Sanctions
8
State Bar of Wisconsin. Dismissed Criminal, Eviction, Other Cases No Longer Displayed On WCCA
9
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes 973.015 (2025) – Special Disposition
10
Legal Information Institute. 8 USC 1101(a)(48) – Definition of Conviction