Ring in 2013 and Support Criminal Justice Reform

As 2012 comes to an end we just taking a moment to say thank you once again for all of your support.  It’s hard to believe that we are nearing the end of this year already, your support has helped to make this a very successful and busy time for CCJRC.  We look forward to having you with us as we starting a new year of activism and organizing for social justice.

As we gear up for 2013—and we have a lot to gear up for—we hope that you have a wonderful and safe New Year and we thank you for being a part of this organization.   As I am sure that you know, there are only a few hours left  to make a tax-deductible contribution for 2012 to support our work in 2013, you can click here to do that. 

If you have already made a donation this year, thank you for your generosity.

Big Agenda for 2013 Legislative Session
Here’s a brief list of some of the bills that CCJRC will be working on. It will be a very busy session and we’ll keep you posted via email action alerts. Much of our agenda will support recommendations approved by the state Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice (CCJJ). CCJRC is part of both the drug policy task force and the comprehensive sentencing task force.

Drug Policy Reform – legislation will be introduced that rewrites the entire Controlled Substances Act.  There are a lot of changes but here are some highlights:

• creates a stand-alone drug sentencing grid
• creates different felony offense levels for drug distribution based on weight to better differentiate between low, medium and high-level drug dealers
•  requires that a felony conviction for drug possession be converted to a misdemeanor after successful completion of probation/community corrections for the first two offenses unless the person has a prior violent conviction or is ineligible for probation
• expand residential treatment availability in the community

You can read the full text of the recommendation at:
http://www.colorado.gov/ccjjdir/Resources/Resources/Handout/2012/1109_DPTF_Recs_with_amendmentsb.pdf

Expansion of Diversion Programs – legislation will be introduced that would expand diversion programs statewide.  Diversion is a voluntary alternative that allows a person accused of a crime to fulfill certain conditions and if successful, the charges against the person are dismissed or are not filed.
You can read the full text of the recommendation at:
http://www.colorado.gov/ccjjdir/Resources/Resources/Handout/2012/110912_CSTF_Recs.pdf

Consolidation and changes in the theft statute—legislation will be introduced that consolidates the crimes of theft, theft by receiving, theft of rental property, and fuel piracy. The amount of the loss, which establishes the crime level, will also change. For example, under current law theft of $500 - $1,000 is a class 1 misdemeanor.  Under the proposed changes, the class 1 misdemeanor would be theft of $750-$2,000.  These types of adjustments to the crime cut-points are made for all the different felony theft crimes.  You can read the full text of the recommendation at:
http://www.colorado.gov/ccjjdir/Resources/Resources/Handout/2012/071312_CSTF1Classification_Rec.pdf

Eliminate Extraordinary Risk Statute – current law has enhanced sentencing for crimes of violence, extraordinary risk and aggravated range.  The intersection of these three is complex, convoluted and often duplicative.  Legislation will be introduced that will repeal the extraordinary risk sentencing range.
You can read the full text of the recommendation at:
http://www.colorado.gov/ccjjdir/Resources/Resources/Handout/2012/101212_CSTF_Recs.pdf

We look forward to doing a great job for you in the coming year.  We can't thank you enough for your generous support.

Sincerely,

Christie Donner, Executive Director

Pamela Clifton, Communications Coordinator

Ellen Toomey-Hale, Finance Coordinator

John Riley, Outreach Coordinator

  

                                             

P.S.  There are several ways you can support CCJRC. One way to support is as a Freedom Fighter.  Freedom Fighters are a very important part of CCJRC. They make small donations on a monthly basis.  Ten, fifteen or twenty dollars a month, gives us the ability to plan strategically throughout the year because we know what we have coming in. Our members also like it for the same reasons.  They are able to spread their donations and budget their generosity more effectively.  Whatever way you choose to support CCJRC, your involvement is deeply appreciated.