On July 6, 2020, Governor Mike Parsons signed SB600 into law. This was done after demands from communities throughout Missouri to defund the police and increase funding to social programs that address crime, not increase penalties. 

SB600 is problematic because it continues to target Black, Brown and Poor communities and limit  freedoms to stand against unjust actions by our government. 

Some troubling aspects of SB600 include: 

- It broadens the definition of  "dangerous felony" to include "conspiracy to commit a dangerous felony" as a dangerous felony by itself. This means a defendant can be prosecuted without actually committing a crime.

- It significantly raises mandatory minimum sentences for dangerous felonies.

- It mandates 100% time served without parole for second offenses and armed offenses.

- It allows the stacking of charges to run consecutively instead of concurrently, resulting in incredibly long sentences.

- It creates the Missouri Criminal Street Gang Prevention Act which directly targets any group of 3 or more people who's primary motivation is criminal activity, which includes most felonies and does not require overt action, just motivation. If one member of that "street gang" commits a criminal act or intends to, all members can be charged with conspiracy even if they had no knowledge of the event. This could directly impact activists and protesters who are legally executing their constitutional rights. 

- Its implementation is expected to incarcerate 2,500 more Missourians, in addition to the 52,000 already behind bars. This means more prisons and more taxpayer dollars towards an already broken system that does nothing to keep communities safe.

OUR DEMANDS:

Repeal SB600

Reallocate funds into social service programs that address economic inequality, housing, food assistance, education and mental health services. 

We will not sit by while our government continues to push through laws that punish people unfairly while refusing to address the core issues.