A group dedicated to juvenile sentencing reform has filed three related ballot measures aimed at kids who commit crimes.

The measures would put the power to charge children as adults in juvenile judges’ hands, instead of leaving the decision to district attorneys. And they would allow convicted juvenile offenders who have “displayed acceptable institutional behavior upon attaining 30 years of age” to be released into the community corrections system.

StopDirectFile.org filed the measures this week with the Legislative Council, the first step in a series of steps to put an issue on the ballot in November.

There are currently hundreds of young men and women serving decades — even life sentences — in Colorado prisons, according to Mary Ellen Johnson, executive director at Pendulum Juvenile Justice.

Colorado in 1993 gave district attorneys the power to file adult charges against children as young as 14.

“The bottom line is that we need an impartial person charged with protecting the public and the rehabilitation of juveniles to make decisions that will affect kids for the rest of their lives,” Johnson said.

“So we’re going to test that opinion with an initiative.”

Investigations by the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News in recent years found that Colorado is among 14 states where prosecutors can charge juveniles with adult crimes that could lead to life in prison with no chance of parole. Colorado ranked 11th in the nation for the rate at which life sentences are imposed on juveniles.

That pretty much sums up what The Pendulum Foundation is doing right now. We are hoping to get a referred measure through the legislature that would allow  all juveniles who were direct-filed to be eligible for community corrections after the age of 30, provided they have successfully completed all DOC programs.

If we can’t get a referred measure, we will do a ballot initiative at the appropriate time, as outlined in the above blog. Right now the legislature is dealing with a monumental change, meaning changing the law that allows prosecutors to have total discretion as to whether to charge a child as a juvenile or as an adult.  In other words, pretty much doing away with “direct file.” We believe we have a veto-proof majority to overturn Governor Bill Ritter’s promised veto. Ritter, a former district attorney, has assured everyone that he will veto any juvenile bill that crosses his desk.

So… we will see what the next few weeks and months bring.

Mary Ellen Johnson, Executive Director