The juvenile-justice debate tore at raw wounds, spilled tears and inspired hardball lobbying across the state Capitol. Only the future will tell whether state lawmakers took a crucial step toward reform or stumbled over a political tripwire set by state prosecutors.
But one milestone is clear: Gov. Bill Owens’ move to sign into law a bill allowing parole options for future juveniles convicted of murder marks the first time in 15 years that the state’s leaders have jointly declared that youths convicted as adults should be handled differently than adults.
“It was strongly symbolic,” said state Rep. Lynn Hefley, the law’s author, because it shows the governor’s unity with the General Assembly over a sizzling issue that he could have just as well left untouched.
Though the new law has been criticized as too watered down, Hefley, R-Colorado Springs, and other lawmakers insist it and other legislation approved during the session – such as a measure preventing prosecutors from filing adult charges against youths for crimes they committed when younger than 14 – sets the stage for stronger rehabilitative proposals for teen criminals.
Retroactivity clause nixed
Some youth-advocacy groups say they are considering ballot initiatives that would provide parole hearings even earlier than the 40 years provided by the new law, co-sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon of Denver.
Another lawmaker, state Rep. Cheri Jahn, D-Wheat Ridge, is toying with the idea of launching a summit meeting before the next session among legislators, scientific experts and youth offenders in the spirit of the historic, early 1900s Denver gathering that helped create separate juvenile-justice systems nationwide.
“This is important politically because this is the first time the legislature and governor have said in law that children tried as adults are different from adults,” said Paul Rosenthal of the Pendulum Juvenile Justice Foundation, which backs rehabilitative solutions for youths.
Yet many state prosecutors who successfully defeated a provision at the heart of the original Hefley bill – granting parole hearings for 45 past offenders serving mandatory prison sentences – are against efforts to grant greater parole relief anytime soon.
“Society should wait for greater advances in psychological treatments” before giving youth murderers a way out of prison, Arapahoe County District Attorney Carol Chambers said.
Hefley removed the retroactivity clause after Owens raised constitutional issues with it and expressed concern for families of past victims. But Owens, in a departure from his past opposition to granting parole options for youth killers, went public with his belief that future offenders actually should be eligible for the release.
He based his decision in part on Denver Post stories published earlier this year, his spokesman said. The articles highlighted differences between the brains of adults and youths, behavioral development and research showing how more than 1,000 youths have been put on a path to prison by prosecutors in recent years.
“I believe the evidence supports this approach (to providing parole options) moving forward,” Owens said in a statement.
Punishment often askew
Jahn tearfully lamented the bill’s modification but stressed that an important stride was taken this session by passing the law.
Also of concern to Jahn, who is likely to lead juvenile-justice reform efforts next session, is how youths acting on the margins of terrible crimes can be punished as severely as those responsible for the cruelest acts.
Since 1998, a disproportionate number of teens have been convicted of felony murder, compared with adults. Under that statute, prosecutors can pursue charges resulting in a mandatory life sentence against someone linked to a homicide scene even if the accused did not directly cause a death.
“We need to pull our experts in for a summit and talk about how long is fair for these kids to go to prison,” Jahn said. “The way the law is written, it’s all black and white. But there are a lot of gray areas in these cases.”
This year, Jahn and Hefley were upset by the tactics of some lawmakers and the Colorado District Attorney’s Council, the state prosecutors’ lobbying arm, in repeatedly seizing on horrific details of past crimes even after the retroactivity clause had been removed. One lawmaker, Rep. Lauri Clapp, R-Centennial, even suggested that the state should consider executing juveniles – an approach ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.
“It made me gasp,” Jahn said. “It also showed me how far we still need to go to help other lawmakers understand these issues.”
Staff writer Miles Moffeit can be reached at 303 820-1415 or mmoffeit@denverpost.com.
