The St. Louis City Police Department covers one of the largest and most racial diverse jurisdictions in Missouri - roughly half of the city’s population is Black, and the other half is White, according to census data from 2010, the most recent available.Read More

The image used in this article is from NBC News. Matthew Charles embodies the mission statement of Empower Missouri’s Criminal Justice Issues Team. We advocate for: Healing rather than vengeance;Community-based alternatives to prison;Increased public safety through preventive activities that address social issues of people at risk; and Systemic and individual responses that enable persons who commit...Read More

The September Empowering You Newsletter can be downloaded by clicking on the thumbnail below, and you can explore it’s contents by clicking on any of the links under the thumbnail. Putting an SRO in every Missouri school won’t make them safer – but here’s what might – Conner Kerrigan “Missouri has failed it’s voters” – Voter...Read More

The Missouri General Assembly has a Legislative Session that goes from January to May. During those months, the capitol building in Jefferson City is in constant motion, with elected officials, lobbyists, and advocates all clamoring to pass laws that will shape our state. It’s an exciting time.  But then we hit Sine Die – the...Read More

Today is the fifth anniversary of the murder of Michael Brown. In a moment that brought national attention to Ferguson and Missouri in the worst of ways, a young Black man was killed by a white officer, leading to an outcry for justice that has never truly been answered.  Empower Missouri envisions a state in...Read More

The time is right in the Show Me State for even more positive changes to our justice system and Empower Missouri, along with the advocates who are a part of the Smart Sentencing Coalition, will be right there pushing it along.Read More

Michael Johnson was released from Booneville Correctional Center on Tuesday, July 9th, 25 years before his expected release date. “Leaving prison is such a great feeling,” he told a BuzzFeed News reporter. Mr. Johnson was accused and convicted of failing to disclose his positive HIV status with a number of his sexual partners, leading to...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