Source: coloradosun.com 3/7/23 A newly launched state task force is only the second in the nation to look closely at reforming policies that have gone unchallenged for decades. Every person with a conscience is against child abuse. But for the first time in decades, policymakers are giving the most widely used intervention in child abuse cases — mandatory reporting — a second look. In Colorado, a task force born of calls to strengthen mandatory reporting laws after a horrific abuse case has grown into something different: a look at whether…
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CO: Colorado woman faces no jail time for statutory rape, pregnancy by 13-year-old boy
Source: news.yahoo.com 3/4/23 A 31-year-old woman who admitted to having sex with a 13-year-old boy and getting pregnant with his child will serve no jail time, according to reports. “I feel like if she was a man, and he was a little girl, it would definitely be different,” the victim’s mother said. “They would be seeking more. I feel like because he is not a woman, they are not. They are having compassion for her.” … But now Serrano may go free and face no jail time for her crime…
Read MoreIN: VCSO: Man says he shot a sex offender
Source: tristatehomepage.com 7/28/22 VANDERBURGH CO., Ind. (WEHT) – The man accused of shooting and killing another man on Maggie Valley Drive in Vanderburgh County apparently did so because he thought the man he shot was a sex offender. Ricky Allen Kiper Jr. was arrested Wednesday and charged with the murder of James Christopher McClernon. An autopsy shows McClernon died of multiple gunshot wounds. According to court documents Kiper showed up at a home where McClernon was staying around 3:00 Wednesday afternoon. The documents go on to say Kiper, McClernon and…
Read MoreCO: Colorado board reverses controversial change to “sex offender” label
Source: denverpost.com 12/20/21 Under pressure from the governor and the state’s public safety director, Colorado’s Sex Offender Management Board has reversed its controversial November decision to scrap the term “sex offenders” in its own guiding principles in favor of “adults who commit sexual offenses.” The board, commonly referred to as the SOMB, voted 16-2 on Dec. 17 to “table” the language-change matter and refer it back to a subcommittee. It’s possible the board votes again to change terminology in the future, but the tabling means it’s not likely to happen…
Read MoreCO: Amid Criticisms A Sex Crimes Registry Is ‘Overly Harsh,’ Colorado Rebrands The Term ‘Sex Offender’
Source: thefederalist.com 11/20/21 The Sex Offender Management Board of the State of Colorado has voted to rebrand the term “sex offender,” replacing it with the euphemistic phrase, “adults who commit sexual offenses.” The board’s decision passed following a 10-6 vote on Nov. 19 will not change the language used in criminal justice proceedings, the Colorado Sex Offender registry, or the name of the Colorado Sex Offender Management Board itself. It does, however, apply to the “Standards and Guidelines for the Assessment, Evaluation, Treatment and Behavioral Monitoring of Adult Sex Offenders.”…
Read MoreCO: Proposal to change ‘Sex Offender’ terminology in Colorado, Springs District Attorney testifying against change
Source: kktv.com 11/15/21 According to a draft sent to 11 News from the Sex Offender Advisory Board, it would change the term of ‘sex offender’ to ‘those who have been sexually abusive’. COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – The Sex Offender Management Board has voted to make changes in their terminology in how they label sex offenders. According to Board Chair Kimberly Kline, the Board feels the change is needed after seeing a negative trend with rehabilitation for treatment with sex offenders. According to a draft sent to 11 News from…
Read MoreCO: Sex Offender’s Indeterminate Sentence Upheld as Constitutional
Source: bloomberglaw.com 9/29/21 The indeterminate sentence a Colorado sex offender received didn’t violate his equal protection or due process rights even though he has served 37 years for a crime that carries a maximum sentence of 24 years, the Tenth Circuit said Wednesday. Bruce ____ pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault in 1984. The maximum determinate sentence for the crime was 24 years, but the judge sentenced him under the Colorado Sex Offenders Act to a term of confinement lasting from one day to life imprisonment. Bruce ____ argued that…
Read MoreCO: Colorado Ped Patrol chases internet child predators along the Front Range as an audience watches online
Source: denverpost.com 8/11/21 Local police discourage the vigilante stings as they worry about public safety Andy Cross, The Denver Post By Noelle Phillips | nphillips@denverpost.com | The Denver Post PUBLISHED: August 11, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. | UPDATED: August 11, 2021 at 9:09 a.m. Tommy Fellows hands shook as he looked at the text message from a man who said he wanted to meet a teenage girl for sex. “What are u going to wear for daddy when I pick u up?” the message said. Fellows handed the phone back…
Read MoreCO: Mandatory lifetime juvenile sex offense registration is unconstitutional, Colorado Supreme Court rules
Source: denverpost.com 6/28/21 Juveniles cannot be mandated to register as lifelong “sex offenders” in Colorado if there is no way for offenders to be individually assessed or to later be removed from the registry, the state Supreme Court ruled Monday. The 6-1 decision follows a new law signed by Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday that eliminates mandatory lifetime sex offense registration for juveniles who commit multiple sex offenses. The law takes effect Sept. 1. The justices found that mandating all people who committed multiple sex offenses when they were children…
Read MoreCO: Bill To Transform Management of people listed on the registry Pulled After Claims It Would Hurt Public Safety
[denver.cbslocal.com – 6/3/21] DENVER (CBS4) — A bill to revamp how people listed on the registry are managed in Colorado was pulled after prosecutors accused the bill’s sponsors of putting public safety at risk. The bill addresses everything from the conditions for release from prison to the sex offense registry. The Colorado District Attorneys’ Council says 70% of people convicted of sex offenses in Colorado don’t even go to prison. Of those who do, it says, the vast majority of them are convicted of sexually assaulting children. Initially, the bill…
Read MoreCO: Colorado District Attorneys Sound The Alarm Over Bill To Revamp Sex Offender Management
UPDATED: CO: Bill To Transform Sex Offender Management Pulled After Claims It Would Hurt Public Safety [denver.cbslocal.com – 6/3/21] [denver.cbslocal.com – 5/24/21] DENVER (CBS4) – A bill dealing with sex crimes has exploded in controversy at the State Capitol. District attorneys say the bill would allow some of the state’s most violent sex offenders to be released from prison without any treatment. The bill sponsor, Rep. Kerry Tipper, says hundreds of them aren’t getting treatment now because of a long waitlist even though a District Court ruled that sex offenders…
Read MoreCO: Sex abuse bill SB 73 easily clears House committee following lengthy negotiations
[coloradopolitics.com – 3/23/21] A bill to give future survivors of childhood sexual abuse and other types of misconduct unlimited time to take their perpetrators to court passed out of the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 10-1 on Tuesday night, but only after a prolonged off-microphone conference to narrow the scope of the measure. As written, Senate Bill 73, which passed the Senate unanimously earlier this month, would take child sex abuse and a range of other sexual offenses against both adults and children and remove the civil statute…
Read MoreCO: Justices consider ramifications of declaring sex offender sentences illegal
[coloradopolitics.com – 3/11/21] Colorado’s 23-year-old sex offender sentencing law is in the hands of the state Supreme Court, as the justices on Wednesday considered whether the Court should strike down a common method of sentencing those defendants charged with felony sex crimes. The Denver District Attorney’s Office appealed a pair of cases to the Court following the 2019 decision of Allman v. People, in which the justices barred people from receiving both prison terms and probation when they are convicted of multiple offenses in a single case. The court reasoned…
Read MoreCO: State Supreme Court bars multiple convictions based on quantity of pornographic images
[coloradopolitics.com – 12/14/20] The Colorado Supreme Court has clarified that no matter how many pornographic images an individual possesses, sexual exploitation of a child merits a single charge, which prosecutors had derogatorily deemed a “volume discount on child pornography.” Following the decision, multiple state legislators agreed that the guidelines for prosecuting the crime should spark a conversation given the court’s interpretation. “What does justice look like for child pornography, be it one image or 10 images or 1,000 images?” asked Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora. “All I have to say is it…
Read MoreCO: The Onerous Burdens of Sex Offender Registration Are Not Punishment, the 10th Circuit Rules. They Just Feel That Way.
Online sex offender registries, which all 50 states maintain as a condition of federal funding, stigmatize the people listed in them long after they have completed their sentences, creating obstacles to housing and employment while exposing registrants to public humiliation, ostracism, threats, and violence. Three years ago, a federal judge ruled that such consequences amounted to cruel and unusual punishment of three men who challenged their treatment under Colorado’s Sex Offender Registration Act. Last week a federal appeals court overturned that decision, saying the burdens imposed by registration do not…
Read MoreCO: Decision in Millard v. Rankin (10th Circuit US Court of Appeals)
Plaintiff-Appellees David Millard, Eugene Knight, and Arturo Vega challenge the constitutionality of Colorado’s Sex Offender Registration Act (CSORA). The district court held CSORA was unconstitutional as applied to the Appellees because the statute inflicted cruel and unusual punishment and violated substantive due process guarantees. Additionally, the district court held that the state courts’ application of CSORA’s deregistration procedures to Vega violated his procedural due process rights. Defendant-Appellant, the State, appeals from the entirety of the district court’s decision. Because the district court’s ruling contravenes binding Supreme Court and Tenth Circuit…
Read MoreCO: New law closes loophole regarding sex offender treatment
[koaa.com – 8/12/20] SOUTHERN COLORADO — Colorado legislators have closed a loophole in state law that allowed certain sex offenders to get out of prison early and transfer to community corrections before completing required treatment. To fully understand what exactly changed in the law, it’s important to take a step back and learn more about the Colorado Sex Offender Lifetime Supervision Act (LSA). This allows people convicted of high-level sex offenses to stay in prison or under supervision until they have progressed in their treatment and are no longer considered…
Read MoreCO: Audit Finds Deficiencies In How Colorado Sex Offender Management Board Carries Out Statutory Duties
[Press Release by the Colorado Office of the State Auditor – 7/28/20] Download PDFs of the reports from leg.colorado.gov/audits DENVER—The Office of the State Auditor (OSA) has released its performance audit of the 25-member Sex Offender Management Board (Board) at the Department of Public Safety (Department). The Board is not meeting its statutory charge to provide evidence-based standards for the evaluation, identification, treatment, management, and monitoring of Colorado’s 24,000 registered sex offenders. Specifically, of the Board’s 381 subsections of standards on evaluating, identifying, and treating offenders, only 18 percent in…
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