The ACLU of Missouri has launched its first-of-its-kind effort to educate voters about the candidates in the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney primary election this August.

The campaign is part of a larger effort to help people understand that they can help transform the criminal justice system with their vote. In St. Louis County and communities across Missouri, smart justice policies start with the Prosecuting Attorney, the single most powerful individual who shapes what justice looks like.

While the ACLU of Missouri does not support, oppose or endorse candidates, the organization has started this push because the race is key in protecting civil liberties in the state.

“We felt compelled to get involved because there is much at stake for civil liberties, civil rights, in St. Louis and across Missouri,” said Jeffrey Mittman, ACLU of Missouri executive director. “Our goal is to ensure that voters know they can begin to hold police accountable, end racial disparities in our criminal justice system and ensure that justice means justice no matter if you are rich or poor. We can elect a prosecuting attorney who is committed to those same beliefs.”

Missouri’s incarceration rate is the eighth-highest in the nation. Since 2010, Missouri’s female prison population has increased 33 percent and is the fastest growing in the nation.

A community’s prosecuting attorney holds immense power at each stage of criminal proceedings — from charging decisions to the sentences they seek — and can wield that influence to transform the criminal justice system.

That’s why the ACLU and several partner organizations, demand that the next St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney commit to the following reforms: improving government transparency, proactively addressing racial discrimination in prosecution, reducing the number of people behind bars, expanding use of alternative treatment and jail diversion, publicly supporting bail reform, eliminating requests for money bail and listening to community needs.


In an effort to educate voters, the ACLU will canvass in St. Louis County every weekend until the election on August 7. Additionally, in conjunction with other organizations, the ACLU will co-host at least one more candidate forum.

The ACLU of Missouri has also launched a new website to help this voter education effort. At www.PickYourPA.org, you can read the questionnaires answered by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Democratic candidates Bob McCulloch and Wesley Bell. 

In the fall, the organization will update the website to include questionnaire responses from prosecuting attorney candidates across the state who are on the ballot this November.