Justice

Trust Judges with Juvenile Placements 0
- April 16, 2012
When Colorado lawmakers created the direct-file option, the expectation was that it would be used primarily for homicide cases. However, less serious offenders and juveniles who never spent time in a juvenile facility being sent to the adult system indicate the current system has gone too far and, like other governmental functions, needs appropriate checks and balances.
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Judicial review of direct file in Colorado good for juvenile justice 0
- March 10, 2012
Based on a totality of the factors, we believe that judicial review must be an integral part of transferring a juvenile to criminal court, given both the rehabilitative aspects of juvenile offending and the specialized programing offered in the juvenile justice system.
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2011 Drug Law Reform in Colorado a Mixed Bag 0
- December 2, 2011
In 2010, Colorado lawmakers took a meaningful step towards drug law reform by passing House Bill 1352, which nibbles at the edges of the disastrous War on Drugs by amending some of Colorado’s controlled substance statutes.

And while lawmakers continued that reform momentum in 2011, those efforts were tempered by other bills that expanded an already intrusive and expensive drug law regime that returns questionable public safety value.
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Legislature Restrains Its Compulsion to Overcriminalize Colorado 0
- June 7, 2011
The 2011 Colorado legislature took a modest, but welcome step towards restraining its own penchant for overcriminalizing the economic and personal lives of Coloradans. Let’s hope it makes us all a little bit freer from an often overweening state.
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Fiscal Conservatives Should Want Colorado Parolees To Succeed 0
- May 10, 2011
To be sure, when offenders released to parole then re-offend (commit crimes), a revocation of parole (or a new prosecution) and a return to prison is a necessary part of the price we pay for separating criminals from the public. But technical parole revocations back to prison (where there is not a new crime, but rather some violation of the terms of parole) is an available area for lawmakers to seek out reforms for both cost savings and more efficient use of existing criminal justice resources.
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Audio: Sentencing Reform in the 2011 Colorado General Assembly 0
- February 10, 2011
On Tuesday, February 8th the Independence Institute’s Justice Policy Initiative, the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, and the Pew Center on the States came together again to hold a panel event at the University Club to discuss the work by the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ) and sentencing reform in 2011. Despite
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