Stacie L. Patterson Law Blog

Mark Steward is known for envisioning and directing a program for rehabilitating young criminals.  The model he used has been successful for more than thirty years and has been dubbed the "Missouri Miracle".  From highly trained and educated staff, to small facilities that do not resemble prisons, several factors contribute to the success of the program.  The staff aim to teach these young offenders how to make positive changes in their behavior.  Changes that prepare them to be productive and succeed when they return to their communities.  Kids in this system are housed at small facilities near their homes, that are capable of holding a mere 10-30 youths.  There are only 8 isolation rooms in the entire state and are reportedly seldom used.  The youth in the Missouri Model meet educational benchmarks at similar rates to youth who are not imprisoned and upon their release one-third of these kids return to society with a high school diploma or GED while another half of them successfully return to school.  

Mark Steward, who is the former director of the Missouri Division of Youth Services, works to help other jurisdictions adopt the same model but is repeatedly met with reluctance.  It appears that opponents are under the impression that the Missouri Model simply can not be replicated in other states, feeling that the success of the model is unique to Missouri.  Marian Wright Edelman reports that many who contest the adoption of the model in other states do so by relying on myths.  These myths include:

"The youth that make up the population of Missouri's Juvenile Justice Program are rural white teenagers with minor infractions who are just more responsive to rehabilitation than the youths in other juvenile justice systems."
"Missouri actually sends its toughest youth offenders to prison, so that only "lightweights" with less serious offenses are being served through the juvenile justice system.
"Missouri's juvenile justice system doesn't serve children with mental health problems, and that those youths, who often have a very serious set of challenges and needs, are being housed and treated elsewhere."

It seems that the Missouri Model's success would indeed be unique to the state if in fact these statements were true.  In reality, the population of this system is made up in part by kids from from St. Louis and Kansas City.  Both major urban centers with similar racial diversities and crime statistics as those of other states.  Additionally, Wright reports, that the only prison facility in the state of Missouri operated for youths up to 17 years old, rarely houses more than five offenders a year and is currently empty.  Finally, she states that the Missouri juvenile justice system serves virtually all of the needs of those with mental health issues.  Wright also says in her article that "In fact, [the system] serves youths up to age 18, and provides a continuum of care upwards that includes a dual sentencing program for youths who have committed the most serious crimes that allows them to remain in the juvenile justice system until age 21."

It would appear that Missouri has many of the problems that make up juvenile crime rates in other states and that the model it uses is productive and successful.  Actually, successful replication of this system is already under way in some states including cities in California, Louisiana, New Mexico and Washington D.C.  While the percentage of recidivism is hard to qualify and the range is great, in California alone, there are reports of it being as high as 70% within 3 years of the adolescent's release.  In comparison to the fewer than 8% of the kids in the Missouri model, ending up in adult prison and a less than 8% rate of recidivism.  Not only are these children rehabilitated and given the chance to succeed, they are treated with respect and dignity and taught to be able to return as contributing members of society.

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