When a juvenile is arrested in Colorado, the child may be released to a parent or responsible adult, referred for detention screening, or held for a prompt detention hearing. If the child remains in custody, the hearing generally must occur within 48 hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. The district attorney then decides whether to file a delinquency petition, offer diversion, or decline to prosecute formally. Decisions made during
When laws are passed at the state level, we don’t always understand or witness the affects until years later, especially if criminal proceedings or sentencing is involved. This is because it takes months for criminal cases to go through the entire process between being arrested and getting sentenced – or not – and even longer for the statistics to show significant change.
That being said, in late 2016
