Two Steps Forward, One Step ... Back? Missouri Legislature Targets Rise in Violent Crime.

• Author: Walters, Sarah

1. INTRODUCTION

   In May 2020, the Missouri Legislature passed Senate Bill 600, a controversial crime bill which made modifications to a handful of criminal provisions in an effort to tackle the violent crime plaguing the state's largest cities. (1) According to Senator Tony Luetkemeyer, the bill's sponsor, inspiration for the legislation stemmed from an August 2019 USA Today report ranking Kansas City and St. Louis as the fifth- and first-most-dangerous cities in the country, respectively, and Springfield as the twelfth-most-dangerous. (2) In a similar USA Today report ranking the most dangerous states, Missouri broke the top ten, coming in at number eight overall, with St. Louis and Kansas City being the most concentrated areas for violent crime. (3) Prosecutors and law enforcement from both cities urged Governor Parson to address the increase in homicides and violent crime. (4) In 2020, there were 262 homicides in St. Louis, compared to 194 in 2019 and 186 in 2018. (5) Similarly, Kansas City tallied 173 homicides in 2020, surpassing the 153 homicides in 1953 - the city's deadliest year - and the 151 homicides in 2019. (6) To address these staggering figures, the Missouri Legislature made targeted modifications to several criminal provisions, including modernizing the state's conspiracy and gang-related statutes. (7) The legislature aimed to achieve two goals: (1) to keep violent criminals and reoffenders off the streets, and (2) to provide prosecutors with the requisite tools to effectively prosecute gangs and violent criminals. (8)

   This Note begins with a description of the historical development of the Missouri Criminal Code followed by data describing recent trends of violent crime in Missouri. Part III describes the development of the areas of law relevant to Senate Bill 600's key modifications, including a detailed look at the progression and application of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations ("RICO") statute, and outlines the bill's most notable modifications to a handful of criminal provisions. Part III concludes with a summary of the data from Senate Bill 600's fiscal note, which forms the basis of the bill's strongest criticisms. Part IV analyzes one of the bill's most significant stated intentions - to align Missouri's gang-related provisions with the federal RICO statute - by comparing Missouri law to federal RICO and discussing the implications of their alignment. Finally, this Note argues that although alignment of Missouri law with federal RICO will allow state law enforcement and prosecutors to more effectively and efficiently address gang violence in the state's largest cities, the Legislature failed to address concerns regarding the costly nature of the bill and the state's already high incarceration rates. (9)

2. LEGAL BACKGROUND

   This Part provides a brief outline of the historical progression of the Missouri Criminal Code and then summarizes recent trends of violent crime in Missouri. (10)

   1. A Brief History of the Missouri Criminal Code

      The origin of Missouri's Criminal Code dates back to 1835, when the state adopted a criminal statute that predominantly consisted of common law crimes. (11) Though just 57 pages long, this statute provided the foundation for Missouri's criminal law for the next 142 years. (12) However, the Code contained many "redundancies, inconsistencies, and needless distinctions and refinements" and did very little to effectively guide the courts with clear standards. (13) Therefore, in 1968, representatives from the judiciary, law enforcement, the criminal bar, the Department of Corrections, and the General Assembly set out to produce an entirely new code. (14) The objective was to "consolidate criminal offenses in one place in the statutes, employ plain language in place of hoary locution, and revise and simplify the range of penalties." (15) The completed version adopted by the General Assembly took effect in January 1979. (16)

      Unlike the full-scale revision that took place in 1979, the Revised Code of 2017 represented a refinement of the 1979 Code, rather than a full recodification. (17) Most of the revisions were technical in nature and were intended to make the language more uniform and gender-neutral, while also providing a clearer enumeration of elements and punishments. (18) Similarly, the revisions enacted by Senate Bill 600 are on a much smaller scale than the 1979 revisions and are narrowly targeted toward reducing violent crime in Missouri.

   2. The Current State of Violent Crime and Recent Trends in Missouri

      The push for Senate Bill 600 was in part due to perceived spikes in violent crime rates in Missouri's two largest cities. (19) Therefore, insight into the current condition of violent crime in Missouri helps frame this Note's discussion of Senate Bill 600's key provisions. National crime data published by the FBI is derived from the Uniform Crime Reporting ("UCR") Program, which was created in 1929 to provide "reliable uniform crime statistics for the nation." (20) Missouri joined this uniform reporting system in 2001 with the creation of the Missouri Uniform Crime Reporting Program, which is now responsible for reporting crime statistics to the National UCR on a monthly basis. (21)

      The Missouri State Highway Patrol ("MSHP") Statistical Analysis Center also provides its own annual reports which represent an overview of the activity reported to the National UCR. (22) Although each of these sources are effectively based on the same data brought in from law enforcement in Missouri, each agency's data summaries are based on slightly different definitions of violent crime. The violent crime index offenses referenced in the annual MSHP Executive Summary include murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, and human trafficking. (23) On the other hand, the National UCR takes the information reported by law enforcement agencies and develops summaries based on violent crime defined as murder, nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.

      In 2001 - the first year that Missouri began reporting crime in a uniform, centralized manner - there were a total of 31,271 violent index offenses reported, (24) which is equivalent to a rate of 554 per 100,000 persons. (25) By 2010, the rate had decreased significantly to 453. (26) The rate steadily decreased by 11.2% overall through the next several years. (27) The next significant change came in 2015, when the rate jumped 12.2%, landing at 497, and continued to increase over the next couple years, reaching a maximum violent crime rate of 529 in 2017. (28) After four years of increase, 2018 saw a notable decline, dropping the rate to 493, though it was still significantly higher than the 2014 rate of 432. (29) Overall, this data reveals that violent crime in Missouri decreased from 2010 to 2013, increased from 2014 to 2017, and decreased again in 2018.

      Although based on slightly different definitions, the National UCR data can be helpful in comparing Missouri's violent crime rates to that of the national average. In 2010, the National UCR calculated Missouri's violent crime rate at 458 per 100,000 persons, while the average national rate was significantly lower at 405. (30) Similar to the trends disclosed by the MSHP Statistical Analysis Center, Missouri, as well as the national average, saw steady decreases over the next several years, dropping to 444 and 369 respectively. (31) Both rates then saw steady increases over the next several years, with Missouri peaking at 531 in 2017 and the national rate peaking at 398 in 2016. (32) Both experienced declines in 2018 and 2019, with the most recent publication of the 2019 data showing Missouri's rate at 495 and the national average at 379. (33) In sum, federal data shows that while Missouri's violent crime rates did experience a significant spike from 2014 to 2017, they have since decreased.

      Although violent crime overall is trending downward, 2020 showed a significant spike in homicides in Missouri's largest cities, (34) reflective of the trend in large cities across America. (35) In 2020, murder in twenty-five large American cities was up 16.1% in relation to 2019, though overall crime was down 5.3% in those same cities. (36) Specifically in Kansas City, homicide numbers for 2020 reached an all-time high at 176 homicides. (37) St. Louis also reported rising homicide rates, totaling 262 in 2020. (38) Additionally, 2020 marked the sixth straight year that St. Louis has had the nation's highest murder rate of any big city. (39) Experts have cited a wide variety of possible reasons for 2020's increase in homicides, ranging from "pandemic-related mental health and economic stresses," (40) to changes in policing, mistrust of law enforcement, and a surge in gun purchases. (41) Regardless of 2020's anomalies, the upward trend of violent crime over the last decade demanded action from state officials.

3. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

   This Part first describes the development and passage of Senate Bill 600 and summarizes the reaction from opponents to the legislation. It then details a brief history of each criminal provision pertinent to Senate Bill 600's most notable modifications, including dangerous felonies, vehicle hijacking, armed criminal action, conspiracy, and gang-related offenses, and explains how the bill modifies these specific provisions. Finally, this Part summarizes the findings of the Committee on Legislative Research Oversight Division and the Department of Corrections regarding Senate Bill 600's anticipated effect on Missouri's budget and incarceration rate.

   1. Background on Senate Bill 600

      Senator Tony Luetkemeyer, Chair of the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence, sponsored Senate Bill 600 in the 2020 legislative session. (42) While this bill made changes to several different portions of the Missouri Criminal Code, Luetkemeyer stated the overall goal was to make Missouri's streets safer by...