Criminal Justice Reforms Advance In Missouri House

A Missouri House committee has approved major changes to the state’s criminal justice system, including giving judges more leeway in nonviolent crime sentencing.

The action Thursday by the House Special Committee on Criminal Justice is just the first step in what its chairman, Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, acknowledges could be a long fight.

“We have to have a fight with some of our friends and colleagues who are good conservatives and good Republicans just to convince them that this is morally the right thing to do and that this is fiscally sound and fiscally conservative,” Dogan said.

The legislation, which Dogan is calling the Missouri First Step Act after the federal reforms signed by the Trump administration, also includes the following provisions:

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