Colorado’s crime problem is bigger than the laws on the books

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project

Colorado’s crime problem isn’t just due to our laws

As I’ve written before, our troubles with crime involve more than just the laws on the books.

There are a few steps in the criminal justice process where someone has discretion. Discretion means the ability to be too hard, or too soft.

District Attorneys decide on whether to charge and what charges to bring. Judges decide on bail, and the trial judge passes sentence.

Each step a chance to be too harsh or too easy.

The Complete Colorado article at bottom details a new effort by some lawmakers and talk radio host Jeff Hunt. Their website is linked below the story for convenience.

I’ll leave it to you to read either, but in brief, their effort is intended to bring public attention so as to hold (quoting their site): “…pro-crime judges, DAs, and lawmakers accountable and restoring public safety for Colorado families.”

If you’d like to, there is a subscription link at the bottom of their page.

https://completecolorado.com/2026/01/15/colorado-non-profit-soft-on-crime-judges-das/

https://cololawaction.org/about

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“Prison Population Management”

I wanted to offer an update on prison policy from under the gold dome. At our last check in the Democrats on the Joint Budget Committee were initially balking at giving the Department of Corrections more money to meet their increased need for prison beds, but then caved and allocated the money.

The budget process has a long ways to go before it’s finalized, but that doesn’t mean that some more policy about prison populations can’t come out in the meantime. To wit, I present you SB26-036 linked first below.

The first part of the bill’s summary strikes me as a response to the earlier fuss at the Joint Budget Committee; if you read the summary and read the last update I posted, you’ll note all kinds of heartburn about notice and updates.

Thus the bill adds to the list of people who should be notified when prison beds get scarce.

Moving on from the intraparty drama, however, shows the reason I wanted to call this bill to your attention. That is later in the bill’s summary, and I took a picture of it to attach as screenshot 1. If you took note of the sponsors from the image heading this post, I think you already know where this story is heading.

There is existing law in Colorado regarding what the state has to do if we run short on prison beds. You’ll note in the screenshot that SB26-036 adds significantly to that list.

READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT THE COLORADO ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT

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