Josh Hawley on Crime

Hire more police; increase penalties

Criminal Justice: How to ensure effectiveness and fairness in law enforcement?
• Josh Hawley (R): Supports hiring more officers and increasing penalties for assaulting officers. Opposes weakening "qualified immunity for cops." Voted for the JUSTICE Act, criminalizing certain police misconduct, but with fewer limits than the George Floyd Act.
• Lucas Kunce (D): "We need the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to become law," a bill that would increase accountability for police misconduct and require improved training. It limits qualified immunity, which gives police officers liability protection in specific circumstances.

Use anti-riot laws on crowds protesting police shootings

"Missouri has laws against rioting, against vandalism, against assaulting police officers and those laws need to be enforced," Hawley says. "And local officials have the responsibility to enforce the law." Hawley says citizens who demonstrate peacefully must be protected, vandal and looters must be prosecuted. "Violence is not protected by the 1st Amendment," says Hawley.

About 1,000 protesters gathered outside the St. Louis City Justice Center. St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson found Stockley not guilty of first degree murder and armed criminal action, for the December 2011 shooting death of Anthony Lamar Smith during a police chase. Meantime, St. Louis Police say they made 123 arrests.

Apply consumer protection laws to pursue human traffickers