2022 Do What Is Just Award: Chief Judge Mary Triggiano

Milwaukee County Courts Chief Judge Mary Triggiano is the recipient of the 2022 MICAH “To Do What Is Just” award.

She is being recognized for her support of restorative justice practices in the judicial and correctional systems and for her support of specialty courts that divert people with underlying issues to treatment programs instead of incarceration. She receives recognition from MICAH especially for her strong leadership that has led to the establishment of a full-scale mental health treatment court in Milwaukee County in October, 2022. The expansion of the mental health treatment court from a pilot program serving five to 10 persons, to a full-scale mental health treatment court that can potentially serve 50 to 75 persons, is a major step forward that will benefit not only the impacted individuals, but also their families and their communities.

Chief Judge Triggiano has a track record of working to make the judicial-correctional system less punitive and more restorative, while holding persons accountable for the harm that they have caused. After receiving her law degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Law in 1988, she was Managing Attorney at Legal Action of Wisconsin, 1996-2004. She has been a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge from 2004 to the present. She has served as Chair of the Milwaukee Community Justice Council for the last year and has exemplified the openness toward, and interaction with, the community that is outstanding and worthy of recognition.

The MICAH Transformational Justice Task Force expresses gratitude to Chief Judge Triggiano for her collaboration with MICAH and other community groups in an effort to work for a more problem-solving, just society.