CURRENT STATUS: SB21-062 is currently stalled in the Colorado Senate by Democratic leadership, even though it has the votes to pass Appropriations. Take Action
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Smart. safe. just.
BRING OUR NEIGHBORS HOME WITH SB21-062
SB21-062 will reduce instances of police violence and protect presumptively innocent people from the system of wealth-based pre-trial detention and bail that disproportionally harms people of color, and those struggling with mental illness, houselessness, and addiction.
It’s time to reverse the trend of exploding jail populations in Colorado
By minimizing arrests, limiting the use of cash bail and pretrial detention, we can reserve police resources for those who are a risk to others, and protect our most vulnerable communities from the harms of systemic racism in policing and our justice system.
Read why SB21-062 is right for Colorado:
Colorado’s prison population has exploded since the 1970’s
Colorado’s jail population grown 800% since the 1970s. 60% of people in jail are unconvicted, and most are only jailed because they cannot afford to pay money bond. Failed broken windows policing and the War On Drugs have filled our jails with people accused of low-level crimes who pose no public safety risk.
Pre-trial detention harms our neighbors with disabilities.
Jails have become our first response to homelessness, substance abuse & mental illness. People in jail are 4 times more likely to have disabilities and more than half of people in jail have psychiatric disabilities. Nationwide, people with disabilities are 16x more likely to be killed by law enforcement. Learn more
Systemic racism in policing is killing our Black and Brown neighbors.
Colorado is 5th in the nation for rate of police killings of Black people. From 2013-2020 police in Colorado killed Black people at 4 times the rate per population than white people and killed Latinx people at 2 times the rate per population than white people. Black Coloradans are arrested 8 times the rate of white people per population for lower-level offenses. Learn more
Death by suicide in Colorado jails is increasing.
Colorado ranks 8th among states with the highest number of jail suicides, and suicide remains the number one cause of deaths in jails nationwide;
About SB21-062
SB21-062 adopts a narrow set of COVID-19 jail population reduction policies aimed at keeping people accused of low level crimes out of jail while giving law enforcement officers a wide discretion to arrest and hold people who either pose a public safety threat or are at risk of continued criminal conduct.
Below is the bill including the Coalition Amendment added by Senate Sponsor Pete Lee on April 22nd, 2021
✓ Increases use of summons in lieu of arrest.
SB21-062 requires summons for low-level offenses, and increases summons for misdemeanors and low-level felonies.
For any victim offenses and low-level felonies, law enforcement retains discretion to arrest people who pose a safety threat or a risk of re-offense.
High-level felonies, statutory crimes of violence and domestic violence are all excluded from the summon provision.
✓ Decreases use of cash bonds.
SB21-062 limits the use of money bonds to cases where there is a safety or a flight risk.
It does not apply to high-level felonies.
✓ Empowers sheriffs to continue to safely manage county jail populations.
SB21-062 ensures Sheriffs can institute safe jail population reduction policies in their jail.
Support for SB21-062
SB21-062 has been through an intensive 8 month stakeholder process to gain the support of law enforcement, survivor groups, and community organizations for ensuring public safety.
Law Enforcement Support
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser
“The situation we have today is we’re spending a lot of money keeping people in jail who have never been convicted of a crime. If you do it the right way, making sure people who are not a threat to public safety don’t stay in jail … it doesn’t harm public safety and it helps people with their lives. They don’t have to leave their kids, they don’t lose their job.”
District Attorney Beth McCann
District 2 (Denver)
“This bill strikes a good balance between the need to take dangerous people into custody and put them in jail, versus the lower-level nonviolent offenders who do not need to take up the time and space of our sheriffs and jails. This will allow us to hold those people in jail who are likely to commit another crime such as those with firearms or people involved in domestic violence or involved in dangerous crimes.”
District Attorney Alexis King
District 1 (Jefferson & Gilpin County)
“I support this bill because we can still argue for those high cash bonds for violent crimes and cases involving the Victims Right’s Act, including domestic violence and sexual assault. We have worked hard to protect our most vulnerable in negotiating this bill. We have a grave responsibility when we put people in custody. If we overincarcerate low-risk low-level folks, we are destabilizing them in the community.”
Sheriff Sean Smith
La Plata County
“When a pandemic demonstrates to us that we can empty out our facilities using responsible management techniques and I can’t demonstrate to you a corresponding increase of violent crime that is impacting the safety of my citizens, then why wouldn’t I want to codify that into law if I can? I do not find any correlation in the data that shows me that there was an increased risk to public safety because we were putting less people in custody.”
endorsed by
Black Democratic Legislative Caucus of Colorado
Colorado Democratic Latino Caucus
Survivors Groups in Support
Colorado Crime Survivors Network
There are no survivors groups that oppose this bill. Meet crime survivors who support SB21-062
PUBLIC SAFETY GROUPS IN SUPPORT
Colorado Department of Public Safety
Law Enforcement Action Partnership
NEUTRAL PUBLIC SAFETY & SURVIVORS
Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Colorado District Attorneys’ Council
Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance
Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center
Violence Free Colorado
Community Support
ACLU of Colorado
Allies to Abolitionists
Association for Community Living in Boulder & Broomfield Counties
Arapahoe Young Democrats
The Bell Policy Center
Black Lives Matter 5280
Black Sex Workers of Colorado
Boulder County Democratic Party
Boulder Progressives
Canna-Patient Resource Connection
Campaign Zero
Casa de Paz
Criminal Justice Reform
Coalition Disability Law
Colorado-CURE
Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition
Colorado Criminal Defense Bar Colorado
Colorado Department of Public Safety
Colorado Eviction Defense Project
Colorado Freedom Fund
Colorado Immigrant Rights
Colorado Juvenile Defender Center
Colorado Office of Respondent Parents’ Counsel
Colorado Fort Collins Homeless Coalition
Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights
Colorado Working Families Party
Democratic Socialists of America, Denver Chapter
Democratic Socialists of America, Fort Collins Chapter
Denver Justice Project
Family of Jackson Maes
Family of Suzanne Burgaz
Forever Indivisible
Harm Reduction Action Center
Healthier Colorado
Helping Hands for Dignity Coalition
Human Relation Commission
Highlands Law Firm
Indivisible Colorado District 7
Indivisible Front Range Resistance
Indivisible Highlands Ranch
Indivisible Centennial West
Indivisible Colorado
Interfaith Alliance of Colorado
JeffCo Colorado Action Network
Latino Coalition of Weld County
Lawyers Civil Rights Committee
Mental Health Colorado
Meyers Law Office
Mulligan Breit McConnell, LLC
National Homelessness Law Center
NAACP CO MT WY State Conference
NAACP Boulder County Branch
New Era CO
Office of the Alternate Defense Counsel
Office of the Aurora Public Defender
Office of the State Public Defender
Physicians for Criminal Justice Reform
Progress Now Colorado
Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center
Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network
Sam Cary Bar Association
SAFE: Safe Access for Everyone, Boulder
Showing Up For Racial Justice (SURJ) Boulder
Showing Up For Racial Justice (SURJ) Denver
Second Chance Center
The Arc Arapahoe & Douglas Counties
The Arc of Aurora The Arc of Colorado
The Arc Pikes Peak Region
The Bell Policy Center
The Marigold Project
West Metro Resistance
Women’s Lobby of Colorado
Yellow Scene Magazine
Young Invincibles
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WE ❤️ COALITION BUILDING
We are stronger together. Connect with us, and let’s work together to protect our most vulnerable neighbors in Colorado from the harms of over-policing, racialized policing, and incarceration.