A 21-year-old University of Wisconsin-Madison student who could have faced 12 criminal counts for political graffiti messages spray-painted on UW campus buildings won’t be charged. The Wisconsin State Journal reports that Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said the student is an appropriate candidate for the restorative court program.
King Shabazz will enter a restorative court on Madison’s south side that diverts young, low-level offenders from the traditional justice system and allows them to avoid criminal charges if they take steps such as compensating victims and doing community service.
The graffiti, which included messages like “White supremacy iz a disease” and “Racizm in the air – Don’t breathe,” caused an estimated $4,000 in damage to university buildings.
Shabazz was taken out of his classroom by the UW-Madison Police Department and arrested in connection to 11 instances of graffiti on campus in April. Officers found Shabazz during class in the Humanities Building after saying they’d attempted to contact him for two weeks.
Students became upset with the way the situation was handled and expressed concerns that recent incidents of racial bias on campus were not being handled properly. Hundreds of University of Wisconsin-Madison students and faculty walked out of their classrooms two weeks ago to gather at Bascom Hill and protest against the anti-black racism that has plagued campus.
