ACLU Colorado and public defenders oppose raising juvenile detention bed cap
On any given day, there are about 170 kids in Colorado's youth detention facilities. Some are accused of violent crimes; others are facing allegations for misdemeanor offenses, but most shouldn't be there at all says deputy public defender Nicole Duncan.
"Colorado is detaining abused and neglected children in jail rather than providing them with services outside of detention," she told CBS Colorado. "The fact of the matter is that we are failing our children."
Which is why she is disappointed to see some local leaders pushing to remove a state law that caps the number of beds at youth detention facilities. Currently, that number sits at 215 statewide set in 2021.
"We are not reaching the bed cap and we have never reached the bed cap," Duncan said.
However, opponents of the cap like Aurora City Councilman Dustin Zvonek believe it is causing more harm to Colorado communities.
"What we've seen is an escalation of crime from these kids and it's literally costing our community members their lives in some instances," he said. "There are more kids committing those types of [violent] crimes than there are beds available."
Last week, Aurora City Council passed a resolution to urge the state to eliminate the cap on juvenile beds. Zvonek lead that charge, pointing out cases in which dangerous kids were released from youth facilities to make room for other young offenders.
"While the violent crime rate may seem to have increased a little bit, the majority of youth that are in detention facilities are not there for violent charges," said Anaya Robinson of ACLU Colorado, which supports the bed cap.
According to data compiled by ACLU Colorado, 60% of kids who are detained are considered "low risk." They are accused of things like property crimes, truancy, runaway, or other misdemeanors. In some of those cases, a judge will deem the child "releasable" however many are still locked up because they do not have a safe place to go, even foster care.
"That's what needs to be addressed," said Duncan. "These are kids that need foster beds, these are kids that need mental health treatment and be plugged in with their community and not be isolated. They can't get that in detention. We want to stop seeing kids being detained because of lack of services, foster beds, treatment. That is a systemic issue."
It is Duncan's position, and that of ACLU Colorado, that the current juvenile bed cap needs to be "given a chance." They say more time is needed to collect and analyze data from the two-year-old cap before any changes are made.