Below is the testimony that Smart Sentencing Coalition member Kenya Brumfield Young presented to the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 22, 2021 about the passage of Senate Bill 60. Senate Bill 60 puts into place new policies that aim to increase police accountability and build trust between police and the communities they serve. Empower Missouri...Read More

As always, the happenings in Jefferson City these past two months have been full of twists, turns and surprises. And it is not over yet, so keep taking those motion sickness pills! It all began back on July 15, 2020, when Governor Parson issued a proclamation to convene an Extraordinary Session on Violent Crime. Thus,...Read More

Today the Missouri House of Representatives gave final passage to five of six bills heard by House committees on August 17. The bills were crafted as a response to Gov. Mike Parson’s call to a Special Session on Violent Crime, but none address the root causes of violence. We believe that the witness of the past...Read More

In the spring of 2020, we saw the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, a pandemic unlike anything since 1918. The pandemic forced the closure of cities, packed emergency rooms, and claimed the lives of thousands. Spring also served as the backdrop for the civil rights movement’s resurgence after the tragic death of George Floyd, and,...Read More

Missouri’s General Assembly and executive branch have moved into political chaos, following a pair of racially insensitive proclamations to Special Session by Governor Mike Parson. These came on the heels of signing Senate Bill 600, a “get tough on crime” package of measures that repeat mass incarceration failures of the past that had racially disparate...Read More

While crime has dropped across the nation and also in Missouri, our state is one of only eight states in which the prison population has been growing. In fact, we rank #3, and we have been in a nip-and-tuck race with Kentucky to take home the coveted (NOT!) prize for most women being incarcerated. How...Read More