A Denver advocacy group states that the health and healing benefits are so clear and long-established that “one arrest is too many for something with such low and manageable risks.” The targeted subject matter of that Decriminalize Denver utterance is what is formally called psilocybin. Much of the general public
Colorado criminal law analysts and commentators know just as well as their peers across the country what approaches work and what strategies are failing in the justice system. And they keep shining the spotlight on a particular sentencing outcome that has come in for progressively blistering criticism in recent years.
“Something is going on and I don’t think any of us have the answer.” That is the admittedly unsure response of Colorado criminal justice advocate Christie Donner as to why felony charges being filed by prosecutors are spiking across the state. There is no question that felony charges being levied
It was “an expensive and hurtful fable.” And let’s not mince words about it, adds Colorado’s Sentinel magazine in a recent editorial piece that heavily criticizes America’s so-called War on Drugs. That policy initiative has been the decades-long mantlepiece guiding state and federal law enforcers’ response to drug crimes, and
The uppercase depiction of longstanding American criminal law policies imbues them with a sense of fervor and unquestioned harshness. The War on Crime. Its attendant War on Drugs. Those notably tagged battles have seemingly been a near-crusade in states across the country, including Colorado, for decades now. Their central tenet
Here is a case from outside Colorado that we submit is broadly relevant from a criminal law perspective. We note below its essential details for our readers. The story starts with a sniffing dog in a Minneapolis apartment hallway, with that canine’s alerting outside a resident’s dwelling ultimately becoming the
A recent Denver Post article’s reference to “poor judgment, impulsiveness, lack of inhibitions, short temper and inability to solve problems” might reasonably link in many people’s minds to descriptors of individuals embroiled in the criminal justice system. It is in fact a recitation of symptoms that are common in people
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper’s office announced the issuance of pardons to 17 criminally convicted offenders last week. A central question being presently entertained by many commentators on the justice system is this: How many more pardons might be in the works during the governor’s final year in office? We wondered
We all know the overriding strategy long employed in the so-called War on Crime against criminal suspects. Namely, what that has meant in Colorado and nationally is a slammed door in a state or federal penitentiary for a convicted offender. Unquestionably, a go-to and preferred outcome for many defendants —
Many news followers in Colorado and nationally are regularly bombarded with articles featuring all manner of story lines. Given the sheer number and diversity of competing news bits, it is course quite often the case that readers quickly scan over some stories with little or no regard for their details
