JEFFERSON CITY - House members have decided to break down a bill aimed at reducing violent crime in Missouri, delaying passage of the measures until at least later this month.
The House began debating earlier this week a bill that passed 27-3 in the Senate during the special session called by Gov. Mike Parson. Legislators crafted a bill that would allow teenagers between 14 and 18 be tried in adult court under a new charge of armed criminal action.
The bill also will allow St. Louis police officers to live outside the city and would set up a witness protection fund. Each of the measures will be debated separately beginning Aug. 24.
Parson threw himself back into the debate by calling on legislators to introduce a provision to allow Attorney General Eric Schmitt to prosecute murder cases in St. Louis, a move described by the city's Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner as an effort to “interfere with the clear discretion of a democratically elected local prosecutor.”
Frank Bowen, professor of law at the University of Missouri, described the move to introduce legislation on crime as a "common move for decades," not just by Republicans, but also Democrats.
While Bowen stressed he did not have detailed knowledge of the provisions, he told the St. Louis Record: "If your state or city population is worried about crime, then pass laws that are more stringent."
He added: "it is strange because across the ideological spectrum, there is broad consensus that criminal laws are more than amply stringent."
And the cost of being more punitive has a fiscal side, with more people in prison for longer is more expensive, he said.
"At a time when the state governments are screaming for funds, it is an odd time to be passing largely symbolic, politically-driven, anti-crime legislation," Bowen argued.
In a separate but linked move, 50 federal law enforcement officers, from the FBI, U.S. Marshal Service, DEA and ATF, will be deployed in St. Louis as part of "Operation Legend," a Department of Justice initiative directed at violent crime in selected cities.
U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen said some of the agents will join existing crime task forces while others will work with U.S. Marshals to enforce federal warrants on violent offenders.
The city has violent crime task forces in place and these agents will join them and some will join the U.S. Marshals' fugitive task force to enforce federal warrants and arrest violent criminals.
"What 'Operation Legend' is, is not protection of federal buildings or federal properties, it's not riot police officers wearing fatigues," Jensen said. "This is purely a violent crime effort and effort to reduce the terrible murder rate we have seen lately. Fifty-three murders in July in a city of 300,000 people."
Activist Cori Bush, who upset long time Congressman William Lacy Clay to win the Democratic primary in the First Congressional District, said: "We do not want, do not need, and cannot stand for the deployment of federal agents to St. Louis.
"This is not a 'crime-fighting' operation. This is intimidation. Want to reduce violent crime for the communities who suffer it most? Refund our social services."
Law professor Bowen said it is critical to know which agencies will be involved and what the agents will be doing.
He added that "there is nothing inherently improper about federal officers being moved here or there to deal with particular problems, and that can include crime problems," though it is unusual to move large numbers of agents at one time.
Joint task forces are in place across the country, but the "key word is joint," so it is a "peculiar notion bringing in a bunch of people locals do not want,"
Bowen said it is clear they are being deployed in cities run by Democratic mayors and city councils and that President Donald Trump is trying to "portray them as out of control war zones" with problems that only he can solve.