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II. Recommendations

To the Governor of Colorado

  • Work with the state legislature to enact legislation that eliminates the sentence of life without parole for any crime committed by a child under the age of eighteen.
  • Until the sentence of life without parole for children is abolished, review the clemency applications of all child offenders sentenced to life without parole and grant clemency to all who meet clemency requirements.
  • Ensure that the state of Colorado compiles annual statistics on youth in the adult criminal justice system in Colorado, including: data on children tried in adult court, the nature of the crimes committed, the precise sentence received by each child, and offender demographic information (age, race, sex).

To the Colorado Legislature

  • Enact legislation that abolishes the sentence of life without parole for any offense committed by a child.
  • Eliminate the prosecutorial option of filing cases against child offenders directly in adult court. All cases against child offenders, regardless of their alleged crime, should be filed first in juvenile court.
  • Provide judges in adult courts with the discretion to send child offenders who have been convicted as adults to juvenile detention facilities within the Colorado youth offender system for a period of years or at least until the individual is twenty-one before he or she is sent to adult prison. Ensure that offenders above the age of eighteen who remain in the youth offender system under such provisions are housed separately from children.
  • Include in any sentencing reform a mechanism by which child offenders currently serving life without parole have periodic access to parole procedures.
  • Ensure that there is a meaningful transfer hearing for each child offender in juvenile court, and limit such transfers to extraordinarily severe cases. The hearing must weigh several factors, including at a minimum the nature and seriousness of the offense, the age and history of the child, and his or her amenability to treatment. The judicial decision should state in writing all evidence relied upon and reasons for ruling for or against transfer to adult court. Such decisions should be subject to review by a higher tribunal.

To Colorado Prosecutors

  • Until the sentence of life without parole is abolished, refrain from seeking a sentence of life without parole for any child offender.
  • Refrain from filing charges against child offenders directly in adult court. Instead, charge all child offenders first in juvenile court.
  • Request and participate in, as an officer of the court, a full and fair assessment of each child offender’s competency to stand trial as an adult before allowing any transfers to adult court.

To Colorado Trial and District Court Judges

  • Raise sua sponte the issue of child defendants’ competency to stand trial as adults.
  • Ensure that there is a meaningful transfer hearing for each child offender in juvenile court, and limit such transfers to extraordinarily severe cases. The hearing must weigh several factors, including at a minimum the nature and seriousness of the offense, the age and history of the child, and his or her amenability to treatment. The judicial decision should state in writing all evidence relied upon and reasons for ruling for or against transfer to adult court. Such decisions should be subject to review by a higher tribunal.

To Colorado Defense Attorneys

  • Explain to child defendants as well as their parents all procedures, defense strategies, right of the client to participate in decision making, and the seriousness of the charges including possible sentences.
  • Vigorously defend child offenders during competency and transfer hearings.
  • Assist child offenders in the filing of clemency applications.

To the Colorado Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Council

  • Oppose the sentencing of individuals to life without parole for crimes committed when they were children.
  • Oppose the transfer of child offenders to adult court without a meaningful transfer hearing before a judge and without a judicial decision concerning the child’s competency to participate in adult proceedings.

To the Colorado Department of Corrections

  • Allow all inmates to participate in educational, vocational, and occupational programs regardless of the length of their sentence; child offenders serving life without parole should have access to all programs available to other prisoners.
  • Review and revise visitor restriction policies, consistent with reasonable security needs, to ensure they do not limit inmates to visits only from people they met before going to prison. It is unduly harsh to limit child offenders to visits only with family or persons they knew from childhood.


<<previous  |  index  |  next>>February 2005