JEFFERSON CITY — Dedicated to ensuring that Missourians receive fair and accurate sentences when convicted of crime, Sen. Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis, will sponsor legislation for the 2013 legislative session to reform Missouri’s criminal justice system. Restructuring the system would prevent future failures of justice by addressing important issues that have led to wrongful convictions in Missouri. Drafting the legislation, Sen. Keaveny collaborated with Missouri experts from the American Bar Association's Assessment on the Death Penalty, law enforcement officials, and defense attorneys.

“We believe reforming the criminal justice system will make the system more efficient while protecting the rights of both victims and defendants,” Sen. Keaveny said. “When wrongful convictions happen, it is a travesty, not only for those who are imprisoned, but to the victims, as well. Lawmakers have not taken a hard look at our criminal justice system in some time, and, given the number of identified flaws that have come to light in recent years, we must move forward in seeking improvement.”
Senator Keaveny’s bill addresses the state’s criminal justice system in five key areas. Specifically, the measure would:

• Require each law enforcement agency that uses eyewitness identification procedures to adopt written rules governing those procedures by
  Jan. 1, 2014;
• Allow a person sentenced to death to request the evidence be tested in order to prove that he or she should not be sentenced to death;
• Strengthen Missouri's existing custodial interrogation recording law;
• Require preservation of biological evidence gathered during an investigation of certain felonies for as long as an offender remains incarcerated, as well as require that biological evidence gathered during an investigation of first degree murder be retained until five years after the offender has been executed, or upon being pardoned or otherwise found innocent; and
• Require certain procedures and guidelines be implemented whenever the leading causes of wrongful convictions — including jailhouse informant testimony — are admitted at trial.

Senator Keaveny notes that the Joint Interim Committee on the Missouri Criminal Code, led by Sen. Jolie Justus, D-Kansas City, conducted meetings during the 2012 interim to review proposals for a comprehensive reform of the state’s criminal justice system. Senator Keaveny says his bill is more targeted.

“I am focusing my efforts on a few key issues that are critical to improving our criminal justice system, while the interim committee is taking a more holistic approach toward overhauling the entire system,” Sen. Keaveny said. “Major reforms often take a lot of time to wind their way through the legislative process, so I’m hoping my more concentrated approach can begin to move our state in the right direction, while some of the larger issues are worked out between the two chambers.”

To follow the progress of Sen. Keaveny’s sponsored legislation, please visit his Missouri Senate website at www.senate.mo.gov/keaveny.