Rather than expungement, the county wanted students to have criminal records because the dealing had lured dangerous criminals who broke into homes and committed armed robberies near the campus, Corr says.

Coad, the Madison criminal defense attorney, questions the value of prosecuting such cases.

“Do we really want to convict them (students) of crimes and kick them out of school? They’re good kids. They have good GPAs and they’re good athletes,” Coad says. “Is that the way that we want to treat students who otherwise are on their way to becoming productive members of society?”

Richards agrees.

“If law enforcement wants to help people avoid consequences, if they want to help them … then give them drug treatment, give them a public health choice if they really want to help them,” Richards says.

“Because the problem with turning people into informers is that you’re teaching people to betray their friends. You’re teaching people to turn in their friends, the people that they know, the people that they care about.”