ACLU of Missouri



Dear [Senator (or) Representative and last name], I am writing to ask you to support criminal justice reform in Missouri and take steps to slow our incarceration rate. Those steps include increasing the availability of treatment courts, diversion, ending cash bail and abolishing mandatory minimums. Missouri has the eighth-highest incarceration rate in the nation and the fastest growing rate of female incarceration in the country. Ending over-incarceration in Missouri is important to me because ?_____ [share a personal reason criminal justice reform is important to you]. It is past time to look for alternatives to incarceration. Too many people in Missouri are behind bars for non-violent offenses or technical parole and probation violations. [Pick 2 stats that resonate with you most]*89 percent of women and 76 percent of men newly admitted to prison in 2016 were admitted for nonviolent offenses. In the same year, two-thirds of women and just over half of men were admitted to prison for supervision violations. *Over 50 percent of the growth in our prison system occurs when individuals are incarcerated pre-trial before they have been convicted of any crime and often before they have consulted an attorney.*We keep more than 50,000 Missourians behind bars. 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 2021, which will cost nearly half a billion dollars. *Statewide, the average black defendant receives a sentence that is more than fifteen months longer than the average white defendant. ?*The criminal justice system is not equipped to handle the social and health issues that land many people in prison and jail. In the U.S., 65 percent of the jail population meets medical standards for having a diagnosable substance abuse disorder.My ask is simple: work to reverse the tide of over-incarceration, protect constitutional rights, and eliminate racial disparities by fighting for statewide criminal justice reforms. Thank you,[Your name and address] ................
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