Justice Reinvestment in Missouri
In 2017, the CSG Justice Center embarked on a Justice Reinvestment approach in Missouri to help state leaders identify and address the most pressing criminal justice and behavioral health system challenges.
Violent crime in Missouri has risen in recent years, while arrests for these crimes have declined. At the same time, Missouri’s prison population continues to swell, driven mostly by admissions for supervision violations, many of which are technical violations, and admissions for prison-based behavioral health treatment, which research shows is less effective than community-based treatment. If the current rate of growth in Missouri’s prison population is not slowed, the state will need to build two new prison facilities by FY2021, which will cost nearly half a billion dollars in combined construction and operating costs.
To address these challenges, Missouri leaders requested and received support from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew) in May 2017 to utilize a Justice Reinvestment approach to study the state’s criminal justice system, with intensive technical assistance from The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center. The bipartisan Missouri State Justice Reinvestment Task Force—which included designees from all three branches of government and state and local criminal justice system stakeholders—was formed to support this work.
The task force worked with CSG Justice Center staff to review analyses and develop policy options to reduce violent crime, improve community-based treatment, reduce recidivism, and invest in strategies to increase public safety. Many of these policies are reflected in HB 1355, which was signed into law in June 2018.
This comprehensive Justice Reinvestment legislation aims to provide resources to local law enforcement to help reduce violent crime, increase community-based treatment for people in the criminal justice system who have substance addictions and mental illnesses, and increase support for victims, among other measures.
Missouri Justice Reinvestment News
One of the things we know we have to do, we got to figure out how we take people who are incarcerated and how do we put them on the right path when they are released.
Missouri Governor Mike Parson
Justice Reinvestment in Missouri
In 2017, the CSG Justice Center embarked on a Justice Reinvestment approach in Missouri to help state leaders identify and address the most pressing criminal justice and behavioral health system challenges.
Key Staff
Laura van der Lugt
Senior Policy Analyst, State Initiatives
Laura
van
der
Lugt
provides
technical
assistance
to
states
implementing
justice
reinvestment
legislation.
She
delivers
content
expertise
in
the
areas
of
program
evaluation
and
quality
assurance,
evidence-based
practices,
and
supervision
practices
in
both
correctional
facilities
and
the
community.
Before
joining
...
the
CSG
Justice
Center,
she
was
the
director
of
Research
and
Innovation
at
the
Suffolk
County
Sheriff’s
Department
(SCSD)
in
Boston,
Massachusetts,
where
she
oversaw
the
development,
management,
and
measurement
of
SCSD
policy
innovation
and
programmatic
strategy.
Prior
to
SCSD,
she
worked
as
the
director
of
Evaluation
and
Learning
at
Roca
Inc.,
a
Massachusetts-based
nonprofit
organization.
Laura
began
her
applied
research
career
in
the
Boston
Police
Commissioner’s
Office
of
Research
and
Development,
where
she
coordinated
and
managed
the
City
of
Boston’s
federal
Second
Chance
Act
Adult
Reentry
Demonstration
Project
grant-related
programming.
Laura
holds
a
BA
in
sociology
from
Bates
College,
an
MA
in
criminology
from
the
University
of
Pennsylvania,
and
a
PhD
in
criminology
and
justice
policy
from
Northeastern
University.
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Danieli Evans Peterman
Senior Policy Analyst, State Initiatives
Danieli
Evans
Peterman
helps
states
use
real-time
data
and
analytics
to
improve
their
use
of
evidence-based
practices
and
improve
outcomes
for
people
on
community
supervision.
Prior
to
joining
CSG,
Danieli
was
a
research
scholar
in
law
at
the
Justice
Collaboratory
...
at
Yale
Law
School—a
research
center
that
works
with
government
agencies
to
institute
practices
that
build
public
trust
and
legitimacy.
Danieli
is
a
PhD
in
Law
candidate
at
Yale
Law
School,
where
her
research
focuses
on
the
intersection
of
law
and
psychology.
Danieli
holds
a
B.A.
from
the
University
of
Miami
and
a
J.D.
from
Yale
Law
School
(2012).
After
law
school,
Danieli
served
as
a
law
clerk
to
the
Honorable
Diane
P.
Wood
of
the
Seventh
Circuit
and
the
Honorable
Harry
T.
Edwards
of
the
D.C.
Circuit.
She
practiced
litigation
at
the
law
firm
of
Kellogg,
Huber,
Hansen,
Todd,
Evans
&
Figel,
and
then
served
as
a
senior
fellow
in
constitutional
studies
at
the
National
Constitution
Center.
Danieli
has
taught
courses
on
policing
and
police-community
relations
for
undergraduate
and
law
school
students.
Read More