As part of his election platform to ease an overburdened criminal justice system in Colorado, Governor Bill Ritter signed into a law a suite of bipartisan bills that will make the state “tough on crime and smart on crime.”
Remarked the governor at the bills’ signing:
Our criminal justice system is tasked with one of the most important responsibilities in our society – maintaining public safety and protecting communities. What we have created here in Colorado, particularly the past few years, is a system that is tough on crime and smart on crime.
We can do both. We are doing both, because public safety is not a zero-sum game. Certainly, we can always do better. We can always make improvements. And that’s what we are doing here today by signing this legislation into law.
Six of the bills were based on the recommendations of the governor’s Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCCJJ), which Ritter formed in 2007 to review criminal justice policies in Colorado, conduct empirical research into policies and practices, and make recommendations to the governor. The 2010 legislative bills that came out of the CCCJJ’s latest research and recommendations are:
- HB 10-1081 (.pdf) (sponsored by Rep. Kevin Priola, R-Henderson, and Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver) statutorily reclassifies money laundering offenses as fraud and allows the state to prosecute offenders under the Colorado Colorado Organized Crime Control Act.
- HB 10-1338 (.pdf) (sponsored by Rep. Beth McCann, D-Denver, and Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver) changes the standards of probation eligibility for two-strike felony offenders.
- HB 10-1347 (.pdf) (sponsored by Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, and Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs) makes jail time mandatory for repeated DUI offenders.
- HB 10-1352 (.pdf) (sponsored by Rep. Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs, and Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver) offers sentencing reform by way of substance-abuse treatment and education programs, as well as mental health treatments, in lieu of incarceration for certain drug possession offenses. It also decriminalizes possession of smaller amounts of certain drugs.
- HB 10-1373 (.pdf) (sponsored by Rep. Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, and Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Arvada) allows for concurrent, rather than consecutive, sentencing in certain escape cases.
- HB 10-1374 (.pdf) (sponsored by Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver, and Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction) permits the Parole Board to change how it determines who is eligible for parole and the offender’s conditions for parole.
Reps. Levy and Waller are members of the CCCJJ.
Ritter also signed four other crime bills that did not come from the CCCJJ:
- HB 10-1277 (.pdf) (sponsored by Reps. Brian DelGrosso, R-Loveland, and Mark Waller, R-Colorado Springs; and Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver) expands the prohibition of sexual conduct among the incarceration population and staffers in correctional institutions.
- HB 10-1360 (.pdf) (sponsored by Rep. Sal Pace, D-Pueblo, and Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver) amends certain state statutes to reduce the rate of recidivism among prison populations by raising the standard of what constitutes a parole violation.
- HB 10-1413 (.pdf) (sponsored by Reps. Claire Levy, D-Boulder, and Mike May, R-Parker; and Sens. Linda Newell, D-Littleton and Kevin Lundberg, R-Bertoud) amends the way juveniles are charged with offenses.
- SB 10-054 (.pdf) (sponsored by Sen. Evie Hudak, D-Arvada, and Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder) allows for incarcerated juveniles charged as an adult and awaiting trial to receive educational services.
Proponents of the bills say that, collectively, the bills could save the state nearly $91 million over the next five years.
(image source: Office of the Governor)
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