BILL TRACKER: SB21-072 passed both houses! 🎉 On to Polis’s Desk!

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Kids belong in their communities, not behind bars.

Bring Our Kids Home with SB21-071

Juvenile incarceration harms our most vulnerable children, and holding them on cash bail can devastate their families. SB21-071 changes the statewide secure detention bed cap to 188 beds and eliminates the use of money bail to incarcerate kids.

***Action for SB21-071 Coming Soon!***

Why Support SB21-071

SB21-071 prevents incarceration of children over low-level offenses and stops making parents pay to bring their kids home.

 
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Most detained kids don’t need to be behind bars

  • 69% of Colorado kids being held in juvenile jails are there for nonviolent offenses.

  • Reducing detention does not increase crime rates.

  • Decreased detention rates have led to decreased juvenile violent crime arrests.

  • Incarcerated kids have a higher recidivism rate than kids supervised in community.

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Detention harms kids, especially kids of color

  • The overuse of detention disproportionately affects children of color in Colorado.

  • Black kids are four times as likely and Latinx kids are twice as likely to be detained as white kids.

  • Juvenile incarceration decreases the chances of high school graduation by 13-39% and increases the chances of adult incarceration by 23-41%.

  • Detention is particularly harmful to children with disabilities, who are less likely to return to school and stay in school after incarceration.

  • Detention can cause mental illness and suicidal ideation in children.

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money bail for kids harms families

  • Most states rightly prohibit money bail for children.

  • Only a few Colorado jurisdictions incarcerate kids on money bail – most don’t use it.

  • The courts have alternatives to cash bail including holding children without bond if they are a serious public safety or flight risk, sending children to a placement in the community or sending children home, with or without supervision and services.

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.