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State Reform Profile

Missouri

Missouri has made modest reform progress. Amendment 3 legalized marijuana and included expungement provisions.

ALTREFORM COMPOSITE76/100

Key Statistics

Incarceration Rate
469
per 100,000 residents
Annual Cost
$25K
per incarcerated person
3-Year Recidivism
64%
reincarcerated within 3 yrs
Racial Disparity
5.4×
Black vs. White incarceration
Alt. Programs
24
active diversion programs
Reform Initiatives
6
tracked by AltReform

Incarceration by Race

MO Overall469
National Avg568
Black (est.)1,520
White (est.)170

Incarceration rate per 100,000 residents. Racial estimates based on BJS/Sentencing Project methodology.

Recidivism Rate

64%3-year recidivism
This stateNational avg: 67%

Percent of people reincarcerated within 3 years of release. Source: BJS recidivism data series.

Cost vs. Alternatives

$25K
incarceration/yr
vs.
~$5K
diversion/yr

Active & Passed Reforms

3 initiatives

Amendment 3 – Marijuana LegalizationView full details →

Legalized marijuana with 40%+ conviction expungements.

PassedDrug Policy2022
AltReform Score83/100

SB 53 – Probation ReformView full details →

Reduced probation lengths and technical violation revocations.

PassedDiversion2021
AltReform Score74/100

500 Lives CampaignView full details →

St. Louis community violence intervention program.

ActivePolicing2020
AltReform Score72/100

Data Sources & Methodology

Reform data sourced from state legislative records, BJS Criminal Justice Statistics, the Vera Institute Incarceration Trends dataset, and The Sentencing Project. AltReform prediction scores (0,100) are generated by our ML model trained on 20+ years of state-level reform outcomes, weighting recidivism reduction, racial equity impact, cost-effectiveness, and political feasibility. Statistics are the most recent available (2021,2024).

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