Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (MADP)

County-based strategy: A crucial aspect of making progress in Missouri centers on reducing new death sentences. As evidence shows, it is a narrow range of geographic areas in Missouri that account for most death sentences handed down. According to UNC Professor, Frank Baumgartner, “A majority of [Missouri]’s 80 executions that occurred between 1976 and 2014 come from just three, or 2.6%, of the state’s 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis.” High-use areas comprise the counties of: Jackson, Callaway, St. Louis County and St. Louis City. Furthermore, over the same period, 92 Missouri counties generated no executions and an additional nine only produced one. (According to DPIC, St. Louis County ranks #9 and St. Louis City #10 nationally in performing executions.) Our goal, then, is to work closely with the Public Defender’s office to identify counties where prosecutors are still seeking capital sentences and target strategic communications to those environments, with the aim of decreasing new sentences. Compared to other states, Missouri has relatively few individuals on death row – 22 as of October 2017. Closing the pipeline at the beginning of the process could move Missouri towards a place of de facto moratorium in the years ahead.