DAs balk at raising prosecution age from 10 to 13

BY JENNIFER BROWN THE COLORADO SUN

Colorado lawmakers will consider a proposal again this year to raise the age that children can face criminal charges, from 10 to 13 years old.

Legislation introduced at the state Capitol in March is a more robust version of a bill that failed last year. The plan is to send the youngest criminal offenders directly into therapy and other community programs, instead of arresting and holding them in detention in a juvenile corrections center. The only exception included in the legislation is homicide.

Supporters point to statistics that show young children who spend time in juvenile detention are more likely to return to the corrections system as kids and adults, with studies showing that it’s difficult to get their lives on track after being branded as criminals.

“Are we making kids better or are we making them worse?” asked Kyle Piccola, vice president of advocacy for Healthier Colorado, which supports the proposal. “We came to the conclusion that the system as it is today is making kids worse.”

The major difference in this year’s legislation is that it would require every county to set up a system in which authorities would refer children who get into crimi- nal trouble to mentoring, therapy, anger management and substance use treatment. Last year, opponents had argued that children were unlikely to get rehabilitation services if they were never charged with a crime.

But, same as last year, the pro- posal doesn’t have broad support from the law enforcement community. District attorneys say Colorado’s juvenile justice system has evolved so much in the past several years that nearly all 10- to 12-year-olds who are accused of crimes end up not behind bars but in diversion programs intended to rehabilitate them. And, they argue, the legislation would strip the judicial system’s ability to levy consequences against kids who don’t participate in required services.

It’s extremely rare that children that young end up sentenced, or “committed,” to spend time in a juvenile detention center. In the past 10 years, only four kids 12 and under were committed in Colorado.

Many more, however, were arrested and detained in juvenile facilities while a judge decided their case.

In the six years from 2016 to 2021, 455 kids ages 10, 11 and 12 were detained for days or months in the Division of Youth Services. Of those, 49 were 10-year-olds.

The crimes range from weapons charges and auto theft to homicide and attempted homicide. In the last fiscal year, one 12-year-old was detained on a homicide charge and three 12-year-olds were held on attempted homicide charges, according to Division of Youth Services data released to The Sun.

Two children, one 12 and one 11, were held on sexual assault charges.

The state Department of Human Services, which includes the youth corrections system, is not taking a position on the legislation.

When children who are 10, 11 or 12 get in trouble with law enforcement, officers would complete a form to refer them to a so-called “collaborative management program.” The programs, created by state law in 2004, already exist in 51 of Colorado’s 64 counties and coordinate services for families and children involved in multiple systems, such as child welfare and juvenile justice.

The programs would create a plan for each child, a mix of services that could include mentoring, anger management, family therapy and individual counseling. In cases in which the crime had a victim, the victim could contribute input about the services plan. Victims would still be eligible for victims’ services and compensation.

In cases of a felony sex offense, the county human services department would also participate in the plan and would decide whether to open a child abuse or neglect case.

The bill says children who violate a protection order intended to protect the victim in a case cannot be held in custody. Instead, a court could order the child to participate in a collaborative management program.

It also would outlaw transferring the criminal cases of 13-year-olds to adult court.

An organization called Fully Liberated Youth is among those that would provide services to kids who come into contact with law enforcement but are too young to face prosecution.

The agency already has worked with about 100 children in four judicial districts in the Denver area through pretrial diversion, a program in which a judge orders a juvenile offender to complete a rehabilitation program in order to avoid criminal charges.

Fully Liberated Youth also has programs in school districts targeting young people who often miss class, get in fights or are involved in gangs. School staff and authorities can refer students to the program.

If the legislation passes, it likely would send more funding to Fully Liberated Youth and similar programs.