PRIA Logo™
MissouriSB8882026 Regular SessionSenateWALLET

Modifies provisions relating to the criminal systems

Sponsored By: Nick Schroer (Republican)

Signed by Governor

Personalized for You

How does this bill affect your finances?

Personalize government policy and PRIA will tell you what this bill means for your household, plus every other piece of legislation we track. PRIA reads each provision against your financial profile to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.

Free to download

Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

21 provisions identified: 6 benefits, 13 costs, 2 mixed.

Limits on leg restraints for children

Officials generally cannot use leg restraints on children in custody. Exceptions apply when a child faces a class A or B felony charge. Officials can also use them when they determine the child presents an immediate safety or escape risk.

Felony sentences set stricter parole thresholds

Minimum sentence shares before parole eligibility are 70% for class A felonies and 50% for class B felonies. For specified sex-registration offenses, the shares are 40% for class C and 25% for classes D and E. For other first, second, and third-or-later offenses, shares are C: 30%/35%/50%; D: 20%/25%/50%; E: 15%/20%/50%. Enhanced sentencing classes use the higher class's share, and any higher statutory percentage controls. Concurrent sentences use the longest sentence's required share; these class-based rules exclude suspended imposition of sentence and adult treatment court referrals.

Longer sentences for rape and sodomy

First-degree rape or an attempt carries 10–30 years or life, raising the former five-year minimum. First-degree statutory rape or an attempt involving a child under 14 has a 10-year minimum, up from five. For aggravated statutory rape or victims under 12, the minimum rises from 10 to 15 years; life remains possible. For first-degree rape involving a victim under 12 and the specified torture-or-depravity conduct, life carries no probation, parole, or conditional release. Child-under-12 first-degree sodomy rules remove special parole options after 30 years, or at age 75 after 15 years, and retain separate aggravated penalties.

More crimes require 85% before parole

People committed to Missouri prisons for dangerous felonies must serve 85% of their imposed sentence before parole eligibility. The list expands to qualifying forced-labor and trafficking crimes, both degrees of child sex trafficking, and third registration failures. It also includes first-degree child endangerment. First-degree statutory rape and statutory sodomy no longer need a victim under 12 to count as dangerous felonies.

More paths to adult juvenile prosecution

Courts can hold adult-transfer hearings for ages 14–17 over class A/B felonies, chapter 566 felonies, or three separate felonies within 180 days. Hearings are required for listed serious offenses, dangerous felonies, deadly-weapon felonies, or two prior unrelated adult felonies. A hearing does not require transfer, but the court can move the case to adult prosecution. Prosecutors can request hearings and present evidence when they filed the petition; juvenile officers must consult them and share records. An attorney deciding to seek certification of a forwarded, uncertified class A/B felony must notify the juvenile officer within 14 days.

Police face stricter criminal record reporting

Agencies must promptly send fingerprints, photos, and required information for covered misdemeanor and felony arrests to the central repository. They must include other collected biometric identifiers when available, but need not collect extra identifiers when financially infeasible. Beginning January 1, 2028, covered traffic, ordinance, misdemeanor, and felony referrals to prosecutors must use an approved form. Felony referrals must include a probable cause statement and an investigative report. Noncompliant agencies lose eligibility for otherwise payable state or federal law enforcement, safety, or criminal justice funds.

Repeat offenders face longer prison terms

Courts must impose extended terms for qualifying persistent or dangerous offenders and enhancements based on prior guilt or criminal conduct. Persistent or dangerous offenders convicted of class B–E felonies receive the prison term for one class higher. A first prison stay in the specified corrections treatment program can count as a prior prison commitment for minimum-term calculations. Persistent misdemeanor status requires two earlier findings of guilt for qualifying class A/B misdemeanors committed at different times. An offense outside the criminal code declared a felony without a penalty defaults to class E for sentencing, parole, and attempt rules.

Serious offenses lose conditional release eligibility

Beginning January 1, 2028, people committing class A or B felonies on or after that date cannot receive conditional release. The same restriction covers offenses under chapters 566, 568, or 573 that require sex-offender registration. The restriction applies to conditional release for that offense.

Counties fund safer juvenile detention facilities

First- and second-class counties and St. Louis must provide juvenile detention space and court offices, with county-funded staffing and maintenance. Shared adult-jail sites need safeguards separating youths from adults, including separate activities and staff, with a limited specialized-staff exception. Other placement rules include an age-17 exception or independent-operation and exclusive-use requirements. Counties in a judicial circuit can share facilities through agreements dividing costs by population and setting financing and location. Third- and fourth-class counties must arrange shared detention when the required agreement exists, unless providing their own facility; judicial recommendations require a hearing after 30 days' notice.

More juvenile records, with privacy limits

Officers must fingerprint youths under 18 who are not certified as adults when taken into custody for qualifying offenses. These include class A/B felonies, chapter 566 felonies, or two separate felony acts within one year, measured as adult offenses. Agencies, juvenile officers, and courts must send covered detention, case, and custody records to the central repository. Criminal justice agencies can access reported information, but covered fingerprint and repository records are closed to the public. Juvenile proceedings covered by section 211.031(1)(3) are also closed to the general public.

Child abuse release waiting period removed

The law removes a one-year wait for probation, parole, or conditional release eligibility for specified class D child abuse or neglect. The offense must not be elevated to class B or class A. Removing this particular wait does not guarantee release or cancel other applicable sentencing rules.

Child endangerment protections now include 17-year-olds

The specified first-degree child-endangerment offense now protects children under 18, rather than under 17. It covers listed conduct that creates a substantial risk to a child's life, body, or health. This adds 17-year-olds to the protected age group.

Defendants receive qualifying custody sentence credit

Courts must record and credit qualifying custody after the offense and before sentencing, including related house arrest. Time after release from the arrest warrant, including release on bond, does not count. With a defense motion and notice, courts can also award juvenile detention credit. Courts can combine proceedings dismissed without prejudice or dropped by prosecutors to calculate credit, also after a motion and notice.

Former prison minimum rules are removed

The law removes the former minimum-term provisions based on prior prison commitments for covered non-dangerous felonies. It also removes the 85% requirement from that former provision. This repeal does not erase the law's separate dangerous-felony and felony-class parole requirements. Release eligibility still depends on the rules that apply to the person's offense and sentence.

Rehabilitation opens more sentence reduction requests

Eligible people can ask courts to shorten their sentence, probation, conditional release, or parole after successful detoxification and rehabilitation. The offense must involve alcohol or illegal drugs, without violence or threatened violence. The law removes the former exclusion for prior, persistent, or class X offenders under the old minimum-term rules. Separate offender exclusions remain, including the specified persistent sexual offender exclusion, and judges decide whether to grant relief.

Local voters can approve detention taxes

Counties can ask voters to approve an added sales tax of up to 1% for juvenile detention facilities. Each county needs majority approval, and the tax starts on the first day of the second quarter after the election. The state deducts 1% of collections for collection costs; the rest is reserved for the facility. After a failed vote, the county must wait at least 12 months before submitting another proposal.

Classified sites face daily ad penalties

Web-based classified operators face a class E felony for knowingly leaving covered ads posted more than 72 hours after official notice. Notice must come from the attorney general, a prosecuting attorney, or a circuit attorney. Covered ads promote prostitution, entice children into sexual conduct, or promote child sex trafficking. Operators face imprisonment, a $5,000 fine for each day after the 72-hour window, or both.

Police charges enter juvenile detention decisions

Juvenile officers using detention assessment forms must consider legally sufficient charges submitted by police. Those charges need a reasonable belief, based on specific facts, that a crime occurred or is occurring. Officers must send the completed assessment to the agency that submitted the charges. Recommended sanctions remain guidelines, not mandatory orders.

Sex offenders face revised life rules

Persistent sexual offenders convicted of listed offenses or attempts must serve their natural life without probation or parole. The law removes an exception to the general minimum-term calculation rules for that group. It also removes related exceptions for predatory sexual offenders and people sentenced for sex trafficking a child under 14. Those exception changes do not themselves state a separate new sentence length.

Third registration failures bring prison, monitoring

A third failure to meet sex-offender registration requirements is a class A felony carrying 10–30 years in prison. The person must have at least two earlier guilty pleas or findings of guilt for registration failures. Courts cannot suspend the sentence or substitute a fine for prison. Electronic monitoring is mandatory during supervision after release; these provisions do not set a monitoring duration.

Traffickers face broader and tougher penalties

Sexual exploitation trafficking expressly includes using intoxicating or inhibiting substances to obtain or recruit someone for sexual activity without consent. The definition also covers benefiting from participation in the listed exploitation. Aggravated forced labor now carries at least 10 years, up from five, with life imprisonment possible. This applies when death results or the crime includes kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, qualifying class B sexual abuse or its attempt, or attempted killing.

Sponsors & Cosponsors

Sponsor

  • Nick Schroer

    Republican • Senate

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

All Roll Calls

Yes: 21 • No: 10

House vote • 3/11/2026

Reported Do Pass

Yes: 5 • No: 2

House vote • 3/10/2026

Reported Do Pass

Yes: 9 • No: 7

House vote • 3/10/2026

Reported Do Pass

Yes: 7 • No: 1

Bill Text

  • Truly Agreed to and Finally Passed

    3/12/2026

    PDF

  • Introduced

    PDF

  • Perfected

    PDF

Related Bills

Back to State Legislation