Missouri governor signs bill to increase prison sentences

(AP) — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is signing a bill to ramp up penalties for gun crimes, second-degree murder and gang crimes.

The Republican governor said he would sign the bill Monday. The bill is the only measure Missouri lawmakers passed this year to address a surge in violent crime in the state’s largest cities. The new law also creates the crime of vehicle hijacking, which now is prosecuted as robbery.

Prosecutors and other law enforcement groups lauded the measure. But it received pushback from critics who argued that locking people up longer won’t make the state safer.