Missouri has gotten national recognition for its efforts to reduce its recidivism rate — the percentage of people released from prison who return because of new convictions or because they violate probation and parole requirements. The Pew Center on the States says Missouri had the nation’s fourth-highest rate in 2004 and led the nation in the percent of offenders sent back for technical violations.Â
But the study says Missouri’s plan for managing all but the most serious violators has led to a new policy that has knocked almost 30 percentage points off the recidivism rate of 2004, and has allowed prison population to hold steady for the last five years.
