The state House on Wednesday endorsed a bill granting parole options for juveniles convicted of murder, capping a 90-minute debate between lawmakers for rehabilitation and foes who said such youths should be locked away or executed.
By the end of the sparring, some legislators had called for deeper sentencing reforms and revisions to the state’s felony murder statute, which allows prosecutors to hold someone responsible for a killing even though that person did not directly kill anyone. That statute has been applied disproportionately to juveniles since 1998, according to an analysis of court records.
The latest version of the bill, sponsored by Colorado Springs Republican Lynn Hefley, is a trimmed-down measure that would no longer grant parole options after 40 years to dozens of inmates convicted since 1991, when mandatory life without parole took effect. To assuage state prosecutors’ concerns, Hefley modified it to apply only to future offenders.
A final vote is set for today.
Hefley and her Democratic supporters, led by Reps. Cheri Jahn and Terrance Carroll, urged House members to consider distancing the state’s harsh sentencing structure from those in Third World countries, where prisoners are locked away forever. They also asked colleagues to consider the drastic compromises made with state prosecutors.
“It’s taken a huge piece of my heart with it,” Jahn, of Wheat Ridge, said of the key concession removing retroactive relief for current inmates. Among those prisoners is Jacob Ind, who Jahn says doesn’t deserve to stay behind bars until he dies. Ind killed his mother and stepfather in 1992 at age 15 after years of abuse.
Carroll, of Denver, stressed that the lack of true culpability in murders – especially in felony-murder cases – means that justice has been erratic in recent decades. For many of those offenders, prison rehabilitative programs can work, he said.
“Society says you can change your life and can become a brand-new person,” he said.
But Lauri Clapp, R-Centennial, led a vocal fight to derail the bill, saying it’s insensitive to victims’ families who deserve to see the most extreme punishments brought against killers. Clapp, in fact, said she would favor executing juvenile offenders, eliciting abrupt corrections from legislators who reminded her that putting people to death for crimes committed as juveniles is unconstitutional.
“Some people never, never deserve” to be rehabilitated, Clapp said.
