Law ties punishment to car theft behavior

Repeat o enders face harsher penalties

BY MEGAN VERLEE COLORADO PUBLIC RADIO

Colorado is changing how it punishes people for car theft, and will focus on the behavior of the o ender instead of the value of the vehicle.

A new state law that took e ect July 1 will bring harsher penalties for people who repeatedly steal cars, or use them to commit other crimes.

For repeat o enders — those who have been convicted of car theft at least twice before — prosecutors can now charge them with a Class 3 felony, punishable by between four and 12 years in prison. People who steal a car and damage it, take it out of state or use it to commit another crime, will face between two to six years in prison.

e law does allow for a lower penalty for joyriders, people who steal cars brie y and commit no other crimes with them.

“We heard a lot of concerns of: What if it’s less than 24 hours? What if it’s returned undamaged?” said GOP state Rep. Matt Soper, explaining why they kept the ability for prosecutors to treat some car thefts as a misdemeanor. e bipartisan law was a response to criticism that Colorado’s previous approach to car theft was ine ectual and unfair.

Under the prior law, the severity of the crime was based on the value of the vehicle. Stealing a car worth less than $2,000 was generally only a misdemeanor. Democratic state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger said it was clear that approach ignored the actual impact on victims.

“A crime is a crime,” said Zenzinger. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a moderate income person, a low income person — if your car has been stolen, it’s going to impact your life, and sometimes pretty dramatically.”