NEW POLL: MISSOURI VOTERS OVERWHELMINGLY BACK CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORMS, BELIEVE ACTION IS NEEDED TO IMPROVE THE STATE SYSTEM
Proposed Reforms Boost Job Growth, Safety, and Strengthen Communities – Mirror Laws Passed Successfully & on Bipartisan Basis by Other Republican State Legislatures
(MISSOURI) – As the GOP-led Missouri state legislature considers reforms, Justice Action Network, the country’s largest organization focused on bipartisan criminal justice reform measures, released a statewide poll of likely voters in Missouri showing a large majority — including a majority voters from both parties — believe the state’s criminal justice system needs improvement.
The poll, conducted in January, finds broad public support for key reform proposals pending in the legislature, including limiting misdemeanor probation sentences lengths; establishing nursery programs in state prisons; and limiting bench warrants issued for traffic violations.
“The clear message from Missouri voters is that lawmakers should double-down on their efforts to improve the state’s criminal justice system,” said Noah Bein, State Policy Manager for the Justice Action Network. “This message transcends party affiliation and urban/rural divides: voters overwhelmingly support evidence-backed laws that divert people from lockup, increase treatment options, and remove barriers to re-entering the workforce for citizens who have done their time.”
The poll, which surveyed 500 likely Missouri voters, specifically found the following:
Regardless of political ideology, Missouri voters want criminal justice reform: 70% think Missouri’s criminal justice system needs improvement, including 62% of conservatives.
72% of voters in Missouri, including two-thirds of Republicans and nearly three-quarters of victim households, support allowing Missouri residents with less serious criminal records who have remained crime-free for a period of time to seal or expunge their records.
Most Missouri voters, including the vast majority of Republicans and victim households, support keeping people charged with “minor crimes like trespassing or intoxication” (79%) or “misdemeanors” (72%) in the community while awaiting trial rather than holding them in jail.
64% of voters in Missouri, including majorities from both political parties and 84% of law enforcement households, support capping probation sentences for misdemeanors and ordinance violations at 18 months.
58% of Missouri voters support eliminating the practice of issuing bench warrants for failure to appear in court for traffic violations and failure to pay traffic fines. This issue is particularly salient for voters in rural areas, a majority of whom support this policy change.
55% of voters in Missouri support the establishment of a Correctional Center Nursery Program that would allow inmates who are mothers of infants to reside with their infant children for up to 18 months.