Milwaukee residents who help family members accused of criminal charges may be targeted by law enforcement authorities under new legislation making its way through the Wisconsin legislature. A new bill will allow prosecutors to go after family members who hide criminal suspects or destroy evidence for criminal suspects.

The new law moving through the legislature is called "Joey's Law" and is named after a murder victim whose murderers were allegedly helped by friends and family who covered up evidence. Currently the law against harboring a suspected criminal provides for penalties of up to 18 months in prison and two years probation. Joey's Law would bump the penalty up to five years in prison and five years of probation for those accused of helping cover up serious injuries.

Although covering up crimes of a family member is viewed as wrong by many, it is unclear how strongly prosecutors would enforce Joey's Law if it were passed. It is not common for family members to help cover up serious crimes in obvious ways, such as hiding a bloody weapon. It is unclear whether more subtle forms of help will provide the basis for prosecutions against family members who were unwittingly helping a family member cover up a crime.

The Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel reports that the legislative push to pass Joey's Law came on the heels of several stories by the paper which detailed how alleged offenders were helped by friends and family to escape punishment. In the paper's "dangers and free" series, many individuals who have not been convicted of a crime are characterized as threats to the community. It is unclear whether future media victimization of suspects and their families will continue if Joey's Law is passed.

Source: Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel, "Assembly panel backs penalties for families helping suspects," John Diedrich, Feb. 9, 2012