RAISING AGE

“We’re asking bigger questions about why is this young person engaging in these activities in the first place, instead of trying to incarcerate our way out of the problem,” said Preston Adams, a co-founder of the program.

A child who is stealing, for example, might need help with food assistance. A child might act out because they need a special learning program in school. Other kids need a mentor on the Fully Liberated Youth team.

“It’s a comprehensive plan for the client and the family to get to the root of the problem,” Adams said.

The proposal to get kids into services instead of behind bars is also a way to address the racial bias that exists in the juvenile justice system, said the organization’s other co-founder, Natalie Baddour. Nearly all of the children who participate in the organization’s programs — 98% — are Black and brown, she said. Black youth are overrepresented in Colorado’s judicial system, according to department data.

Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, a Denver Democrat and a prime sponsor of the legislation, has worked with young people in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems and ran Denver’s collaborative management program for 10 years.

“We continue to hear his concern that the juvenile justice system was the only place that these kids could access services, which in my experience, I know is actually pretty false,” she said. “There are a number of resources and services that are already available. It was a matter of how do we make sure that they are made more easily accessible and available to these kids, if they are no longer going through that system.”

Rep. Ryan Armagost, a Berthoud Republican and the other prime sponsor of the bill, is a former sheriff’s deputy and worked in the prison system.

“That’s part of the reason that brought me to this bill,” he said.

“I’ve seen the revolving door.”

“I carried handcuffs to detain somebody. I never had to put them on a 12-year-old, they’re not even designed to fit a 12-year-old, so the fact that we are considering this as an option for kids 12 and under is frustrating to me.”

But the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council opposes the measure.

The juvenile justice system is working fine, said Tom Raynes, a former district attorney in Montrose and now executive director of the council. Criminal filings against juveniles have dropped 50% in the past 20 years because kids are sent to diversion programs instead. And in 2017, Colorado stopped allowing detention of 10to 12-year-olds except for felonies or weapons charges.

“I feel like they are attempting to unwind a system that’s working extremely well,” he said.

The state is already diverting most juvenile offenders to support services, and the success rate for those programs is high. But today, when a child violates court orders to participate in therapy or not contact a victim, a judge can send them to detention. The legislation would take away that consequence, replacing it with meetings about service plans and shifting accountability from the child to their parents, who could become the subject of a child neglect case if their child does not follow the service plan, Raynes said.

“Failure to comply has little consequence, until perhaps an ultimate decision to file a dependency and neglect action against the parents, which is this kind of exaggerated premise that all kids who get in trouble have neglectful or abusive parents,” he said.

In the decade from 2011 to 2021, there were 973 violent and serious offenses filed in Colorado against kids ages 10-12, according to the council. That included 14 murder and attempted murder charges. Yet only four kids were sentenced to serve time in a juvenile corrections facility.

“You’re seeing that the probationary and community services are working,” said Jessica Dotter, the council’s sex assault resource prosecutor.

In the past decade, children ages 10-12 were accused of 1,500 sex cases. More than half were sexual assault on a child, meaning the child was victimizing a child younger than them, she said.

“It’s a really harsh reality and one that most people don’t want to believe occurs with this population,” Dotter said. “And it’s worrisome that the bill does not have any sort of carve-outs for violent crimes other than murder, and worrisome that the bill does not have any carve-out for sexual offenses.” Last year’s proposal was stripped down to a task force, which recently released its final report.

This story is from The Colorado Sun, a journalist-owned news outlet based in Denver and covering the state. For more, and to support The Colorado Sun, visit coloradosun. com. The Colorado Sun is a partner in the Colorado News Conservancy, owner of Colorado Community Media.