Gov. Jared Polis moved Monday to replace a now-defunct commission that helped guide criminal justice policy in the state for the past 16 years, drawing praise from law enforcement and concerns from reform advocates who worry it will slow reforms.
Polis issued an executive order creating a working group charged with drafting a replacement for the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, which was dissolved by the legislature in May after it had helped guide criminal justice policy and legislation here since 2007. The new working group, composed of law enforcement, attorneys and experts, will recommend a permanent replacement for the commission, likely to be created by the legislature, by March 1.
The order makes good on a promise that Polis delivered to legislators in a June letter vetoing a bill that would have created a task force to study the costs associated with enforcing drug laws. Polis said that work could have been handled by the commission. The 30-member commission, charged with studying and recommending policies to the General Assembly, had been praised by Polis and law enforcement as bringing a variety of experts into criminal justice reform discussions, and it had played a role in a number of policy changes since its creation nearly two decades ago.
But it had also drawn increasing criticism from progressive legislators and advocates, who saw the commission, known colloquially as CCJJ, as slowing, rather than facilitating, reform while giving Polis and law enforcement a hand in those policies’ early formation. Advocates now fear that the new working group will simply reconstitute that commission rather than advancing a new approach to policymaking.
In a statement, Polis said the new working group — and the permanent body he wants the group to shepherd into existence — would bring together a variety of experts to recommend “data-driven ideas from across the spectrum” on criminal justice policy. The working group will consist of 17 members, including four legislators; law enforcement; experts; and prosecutors.
“This executive order brings together experts to help provide a path for the important work ahead and ensure that criminal and juvenile justice-related policies work to make Colorado safer and improve outcomes across the system,” he said.
Debra Funston, the president of the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police, said in a statement that her organization “strongly supports” the working group as a “new path for a fair and open forum” for criminal justice policymaking.
“Ever since the CCJJ was not reauthorized by the legislature last session, there has been concern among public safety professionals that stakeholders will lose their voice in important criminal justice legislation,” added Dan Rubinstein, the district attorney overseeing Mesa County, in a statement provided by Polis’ office. He commended Polis “for taking the lead in helping to assure the right people are at the table to make recommendations about the future of public safety in Colorado.”
Advocates were less enthusiastic. They accused Polis of missing an opportunity to meaningfully tackle reform by instead rebooting a system they had previously criticized as ineffective. Tristan Gorman, the policy director for the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, said the working group was too heavily populated by the “architects” of the criminal justice system, rather than the “people whose lives have been impacted” by that system.
“In recent years, the CCJJ’s structure has proven less effective and flexible; has left little room for community responsiveness, engagement or buy-in; and has allowed for inappropriate politicization and co-option by the Governor’s Office,” Rebecca Wallace, the policy director for the Colorado Freedom Fund, said in an email. “The Governor’s EO replicates these very flaws.”
Though legislators could introduce and pass criminal justice bills without the commission’s approval, its green light on policy issues provided a boost in the legislature and to Polis, advocates said. That, in turn, gave officials outside of the legislature early influence on a breadth of criminal justice proposals and reforms.
Taylor Pendergrass, the advocacy director for the ACLU of Colorado, said in a statement Monday that the commission’s ending had given the state “a critical opportunity to reimagine criminal justice policymaking in Colorado.” The order, he continued, “is not making the most of that opportunity when it invites most of the same folks back into the same room with a very similar mandate to the old CCJJ.”
“We don’t tackle other complex policy areas like housing or education with a one-size-fits-all permanent committee, and for good reason,” he wrote. “It’s too inflexible, community members are underrepresented, and you can’t get the right expertise for that particular issue.”
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