Colorado
Contact Information
Colorado Juvenile Defender Coalition (CJDC) is dedicated to ensuring excellence in juvenile defense and advocacy, and justice for all children and youth in Colorado. CJDC believes all children and youth should experience adolescence free from over-criminalization in a just society that promotes their well-being and provides second chances.
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: 303-435-7232
Website: https://www.cjdc.org
Twitter: @COJuvieDefender
Facebook: @COJuviDefenderCenter
Legislation
Bill Number: HB 1271
Type of Reform
Transfer Reform - Narrowed direct file eligibility by age and offense (now 16 for all offenses), provided all youth facing trial in adult court to ask for a “reverse transfer” hearing during which a judge will decide in which system, juvenile or adult, the youth’s case belongs and eliminated mandatory minimum sentencing for you convicted of crimes of violence. Youth ages 14 to 15 can now only be considered for an adult court in hearings presided over by juvenile court judges. Youth ages 16 to 17 that are direct filed as adults can request a reverse transfer hearing presided over by adult court judges to decide whether the case should be transferred to juvenile court.
Year: 2012
Bill Number: HB 1139
Type of Reform
Detention Reform - Prohibited detaining youth who are being tried as an adult in an adult jail or pretrial facility unless the district court finds that an adult jail or pretrial facility is the appropriate place of confinement for the youth after an evidentiary hearing
Year: 2012
Bill Number: SB 10-054
Type of Reform
Data Collection - Required jails to collect annual data on the number of juveniles housed at the facility, the length of each juvenile's stay, and the number of those juveniles qualifying for and receiving traditional special education services.
Year: 2010
Bill Number: HB 09-1321
Type of Reform
Detention Reform - Required prosecutors and defense attorneys to consider and discuss certain criteria before the prosecutor makes the decision of where the youth must be held pre-trial.
Year: 2009
Reports
Justice Redirected: The Impact of Reducing the Prosecution of Children as Adults in Colorado and the Continuing Need for Sentencing Reform (2015)
This report looks at the impact of the ground-breaking 2012 reforms, examining how many children remain in Colorado’s adult prisons and jails and analyzing the sentencing structure direct-filed youth currently are subject to. The 2012 reforms reflect an approach to juvenile justice that’s both restorative to the child as well as the community as a whole. Although the number of children being prosecuted in adult court has dropped significantly, there’s still more work to be done. The full report outlines all of the data, as well as detailed recommendations for future reforms.
Caging Children in Crisis
This report shows why Colorado’s adult jails and prisons are no places for children and exposes the consequences of placing kids in adult facilities.