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- 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 offenders 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 childs competency to participate in
adult proceedings.
- 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.
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