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Sentencing Law and Policy
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Calls for a sentencing commission in Colorado

By Douglas Berman

This article from the Rocky Mountain News reports on report from the Colorado Lawyers Committee calling for the creation of a sentencing commission in Colorado.  Here are some highlights from an encouraging piece that spotlights issues facing many states:

Colorado should look to the success other states have had as it considers forming its own sentencing commission, said Jim Scarboro of the Colorado Lawyers Committee and author of a report recommending the establishment of a commission here…. The Colorado Lawyers Committee report does not make specific recommendations for changes, but it suggests that a commission should study whether reduced sentences or nonprison sanctions could be used for nonviolent offenders, including low-level property and drug offenders, older offenders, female offenders and parolees returning to prison due to a technical violation of their release conditions….

Adams County District Attorney Don Quick, who is president of the Colorado District Attorneys Council, said he supports the idea of a sentencing commission, but said sentencing-reduction schemes must be examined carefully. “We need to get an accurate picture of who’s being sent to prison before we send them out the door,” he said. “We need to look at the history of those people before you say they don’t pose a public-safety risk.” Quick also said the state needs to do a better job of providing job training and drug treatment to prisoners who are being released. He notes that 80 percent of inmates have substance-abuse problems. “Colorado has a 50 percent recidivism rate,” Quick said. “We’ve got to do a better job on re-entry.”…

Everyone agrees that the state can’t continue to pay for more and larger prisons, Quick said. “The reason this hasn’t been solved is because it is a complicated issue, but it’s clear that we cannot keep the status quo,” he said. “We need to keep the public safe and look at better coordination and funding of resources so we can turn down the faucet on the front end and not just build a bigger bucket.”