Who is the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition?

Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

If you would like to be involved please go to our website and become a member.


Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Court Drops Ban Of Alcohol Use By Probationers

By STEVEN M. ELLIS, Staff Writer

A court cannot require a federal criminal defendant to abstain from consuming alcohol as a condition of supervised release where nothing in the record suggests a relationship between the crime and alcohol consumption, or that the defendant abused alcohol in the past, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday.

Vacating Marcus Brandon Betts’ sentence and remanding for resentencing, a unanimous panel held that U.S. District Judge David O. Carter of the Central District of California abused his discretion when he imposed the condition because Carter made no individualized determination that the condition bore a reasonable relationship to rehabilitating Betts, protecting the public, or providing adequate deterrence.

Writing for the panel, Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld said:

“Moderate consumption of alcohol does not rise to the dignity of our sacred liberties, such as freedom of speech,” he wrote, “but the freedom to drink a beer while sitting in a recliner and watching a football game is nevertheless a liberty people have, and it is probably exercised by more people than the liberty to publish a political opinion.”


Met News

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