2023 Colorado Revised Statutes › Title 19 - CHILDREN'S CODE (§§ 19-1-101 — 19-7-315) › Article 2.5 - THE COLORADO JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM (§§ 19-2.5-101 — 19-2.5-1532) › Part 14 - ADMINISTRATION (§§ 19-2.5-1401 — 19-2.5-1412) › Subpart A - IN GENERAL (§§ 19-2.5-1401 — 19-2.5-1407.3) › Section 19-2.5-1404 - [Effective Until 8/7/2024] Working group for criteria for placement of juvenile offenders - establishment of formula - review of criteria - report

(1)
(a)
The executive director of the department of human services and the state court administrator of the judicial department, or any designees of such persons, shall form a working group that includes representatives from:
(I)
The division of criminal justice of the department of public safety;
(II)
The office of state planning and budgeting;
(III)
The Colorado district attorneys' council;
(IV)
Law enforcement, including at least one representative from a statewide organization of county sheriffs;
(V)
The public defender's office and the office of alternate defense counsel;
(VI)
The office of the child representative;
(VII)
Juvenile probation;
(VIII)
Juvenile court judges and magistrates;
(IX)
Local and county governments, including at least three representatives from county departments of human or social services;
(X)
The division of youth services;
(XI)
The division of child welfare;
(XII)
The local juvenile services planning committees, created in section
19-2.5-302
; and
(XIII)
Organizations that advocate for youth involved in the juvenile justice system.
(a.5)
The working group must also include at least two persons directly affected by the incarceration of youth, of whom, at least one person who is or was a youth in the custody of a division of youth services facility.
(b)
The working group shall carry out the following duties:
(I)
To establish a set of criteria for both detention and commitment for the purposes of determining which juvenile offenders are appropriate for placement in the physical or legal custody of the department of human services. The criteria must conform with section
19-2.5-305
. This set of criteria, when adopted by the department of human services and the judicial department, must promote a more uniform system of determining which juveniles should be placed in the physical custody of the department of human services or in the legal custody of the department of human services so that decisions for placement of a juvenile are made based upon a uniform set of criteria throughout the state. In addition, the criteria must specifically take into account the juvenile's educational needs and ensure the juvenile's access to appropriate educational services. The working group established pursuant to this subsection (1) shall hold a meeting at least four times each year and as necessary to review and propose revision to the criteria established pursuant to this subsection (1) and the formula created pursuant to subsection (1)(b)(V) of this section.
(II)
Before January 1, 2021, to develop or adopt by a majority vote of the working group a research-based detention screening instrument to be used statewide to inform placement of juveniles in a detention facility. In developing or adopting the detention screening instrument, the working group shall consult with expert organizations and review research and best practices from other jurisdictions. The working group is also responsible for:
(A)
Ensuring that the instrument identifies and mitigates any disparate impacts based on disability, race or ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, economic status, or child welfare involvement;
(B)
Identifying measures and scoring for the detention screening instrument to determine eligibility for placement in a juvenile detention facility;
(C)
Identifying how the instrument is validated and piloted; and
(D)
Establishing statewide scoring override policies that minimize subjective decisions to hold a juvenile in a detention facility, while allowing for local flexibility;
(III)
Before January 1, 2021, to develop a plan to provide training and technical assistance to screening teams on the implementation of the detention screening instrument, including at least annual refresher training;
(IV)
Before January 1, 2021, to develop a plan for the division of youth services to collect, compile, and report to the judiciary committees of the senate and the house of representatives, the health and human services committee of the senate, and the public health care and human services committee of the house of representatives, or any successor committees, annually on the use of secure detention; number and justification of overrides of the detention screening instrument as conducted pursuant to section
19-2.5-303
; and, if possible, an analysis of detention screening instrument data to determine if any disparate impacts resulted based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, economic status, or child welfare involvement. The division of youth services shall recommend any necessary changes to appropriations that need to be made prior to fully implementing this section's recommendations. Notwithstanding section
24-1-136 (11)(a)(I)
, this reporting requirement continues indefinitely.
(V)
To establish a formula for the purpose of allocating funds by each judicial district in the state of Colorado for alternative services to placing juveniles in the physical custody of the department of human services or in the legal custody of the department of human services. The allocation must take into consideration such factors as the population of the judicial district, the incidence of offenses committed by juveniles in such judicial district, and other factors as deemed appropriate. The working group shall consider and take into account whether any federal money or matching funds are available to cover the costs of juveniles within the system, including parent fees and third-party reimbursement as authorized by law or reimbursements under Title IV-E of the federal "Social Security Act", as amended.
(VI)
Before January 1, 2021, to establish criteria for juveniles served through alternative services funded pursuant to subsection (1)(b)(V) of this section. The criteria must prioritize:
(A)
Preadjudicated juveniles eligible for placement in a detention facility as determined by results from a detention screening instrument;
(B)
Juveniles who are in secure detention; and
(C)
Juveniles under the supervision of probation when the results of a detention screening instrument indicate that the juvenile is eligible for detention.
(VII)
At least annually review data collected by the division of youth services on the use of funding pursuant to subsection (1)(b)(V) of this section and its impact on the use of juvenile detention. The working group shall identify the measures that it will collect as part of its review of the impact of preadjudicated funding on detention pursuant to this section.
(VIII)
Before January 1, 2021, to adopt a relative information form concerning a juvenile's potential need for services or placement. The information form must be available at each judicial district to each parent or legal guardian of a juvenile screened for detention and participation in alternative services. The information form must:
(A)
Advise the parent or legal guardian that he or she is required to provide the requested information fully and completely; and
(B)
Require the parent or legal guardian to list the names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers of every grandparent, relative, kin, and person with a significant relationship with the juvenile and any comments concerning the appropriateness of the juvenile's potential need for services from or placement with those persons.
(IX)
Before January 1, 2021, to develop a system of graduated responses and rewards to guide parole officers in determining how best to motivate positive juvenile behavior change and the appropriate response to a violation of terms and conditions of juvenile parole. Graduated responses means an accountability-based series of sanctions and services designed to respond to a juvenile's violation of parole quickly, consistently, and proportionally and incentives to motivate positive behavior change and successful completion of parole and the juvenile's reentry and treatment goals.
(X)
Before July 1, 2022, to create a formula for the allocation of money to judicial districts pursuant to section
19-2.5-1407 (3)
for the provision of temporary shelter for juveniles.
(2)
Of the members of the working group established pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, the executive director of the department of human services and the state court administrator of the judicial department, or any designees of such persons, have final authority to carry out the duty of creating the set of criteria pursuant to subsections (1)(b)(I) to (1)(b)(IV) of this section and creating the formula pursuant to subsections (1)(b)(V) to (1)(b)(VII) of this section. This authority can only be exercised after working with and participating in the working group process established in this section.
(3)
(a)
On or before October 31, 2021, and at least four times each year thereafter and as necessary to perform the duties described in this subsection (3), the working group shall convene for the purpose of examining the availability of alternatives to youth detention and the use of detention beds, and examining necessary investments in alternatives to youth detention, including less restrictive placements that serve alleged and adjudicated juvenile offenders and community-based services that allow alleged and adjudicated juvenile offenders to live with family or kin. The working group shall carry out the following duties:
(I)
By October 31, 2022, the working group shall develop performance standards and outcome measures to evaluate the degree to which alleged and adjudicated offenders are in the least restrictive setting with appropriate services. The performance standards and outcome measures must:
(A)
Evaluate whether the number of alternative placements, range of services offered by such placements, and community-based services available meet the needs of youth in each judicial district and county; and
(B)
Determine whether and how specific data and outcome measures must be reported to evaluate the efficacy of less restrictive placements and community-based services.
(II)
The working group shall advise the department of human services concerning policies, procedures, and best practices related to serving youth in the least restrictive setting.
(III)
The working group shall review the data provided by the department of human services pursuant to subsection (3)(b) of this section, and provide recommendations:
(A)
To enhance the continuum of community-based services and placement options for alleged and adjudicated juvenile offenders, including recommendations to improve availability and quality of less restrictive alternative placements and community-based services for youth;
(B)
Regarding any changes to secure detention bed capacity limits and the allocation of detention beds across the state; and
(C)
For future data collection and reporting to assist the working group in completing its duties.
(b)
On or before July 1, 2023, and on or before July 1 each year thereafter, the department of human services shall submit a report to the working group, the judiciary committees of the senate and the house of representatives, or any successor committees, and the health and human services committee of the senate and the public and behavioral health and human services committee of the house of representatives, or any successor committees. The report must include the data collected pursuant to subsection (3)(d) of this section for the prior calendar year and the following:
(I)
An analysis of the data collected in accordance with the performance standards and outcome measures developed pursuant to subsection (3)(a)(I) of this section, and an analysis of the progress toward meeting the performance standards and outcome measures developed pursuant to subsection (3)(a)(I) of this section;
(II)
The status of implementation of efforts guided by the working group's recommendations pursuant to subsection (3)(a)(II) of this section;
(III)
An analysis of the continuum of in-home and out-of- home placement options and supports for alleged juvenile offenders, including the current availability capacities of the options and supports, including:
(A)
An analysis of the availability of and demand for less restrictive alternative placements in each judicial district and county, including but not limited to residential treatment facilities, qualified residential treatment programs, nonqualified residential treatment programs, residential community placements, shelter placements, and family-type settings, including but not limited to foster care;
(B)
An analysis of the availability and use of funding for less restrictive alternative placements in each judicial district and county, including but not limited to residential treatment facilities, qualified residential treatment programs, nonqualified residential treatment programs, residential community placements, shelter placements, and family-type settings, including but not limited to foster care;
(C)
An analysis of the availability of and demand for community-based services in each judicial district and county offered to alleged and adjudicated juvenile offenders that assist in allowing children to live with family or kin, including the types of community-based services available and capacity for each type of service in each judicial district and county; and
(D)
An analysis of the availability and use of funding for community-based services in each judicial district and county offered to alleged and adjudicated juvenile offenders, including the amount of funding spent on different types of services.
(IV)
An analysis of barriers to placing youth in less restrictive alternative placements;
(V)
The number of youth in detention awaiting placement in a less restrictive community setting;
(VI)
The number of youth in detention charged by direct filing pursuant to section
19-2.5-801
by judicial district or county, and the average length of stay in detention for these youth;
(VII)
An analysis of the number of youth placed in less restrictive alternative placements, including but not limited to residential treatment facilities, qualified residential treatment programs, nonqualified residential treatment programs, residential community placements, shelter placements, and family-type settings, including but not limited to foster care, and the length of stay in these placements for alleged and adjudicated offenders;
(VIII)
An analysis of the involvement of youth and their families, and their satisfaction with less restrictive alternative placements;
(IX)
An analysis of the number of alleged and adjudicated juvenile offenders who are served by county departments through their child welfare systems and the impact on those county departments;
(X)
The number of youth, by age and by judicial district, who at the time they received services from a county department, including, but not limited to, services received through prevention services, an assessment, or an open dependency and neglect case:
(A)
Had an open delinquency case in a district court;
(B)
Were on juvenile probation; or
(C)
Had a juvenile deferred sentence;
(XI)
The number of youth, by age and by judicial district, who at the time they were placed in out-of-home placement by a county department:
(A)
Had an open delinquency case in a district court;
(B)
Were on juvenile probation; or
(C)
Had a juvenile deferred sentence;
(XII)
Reserved.
(XIII)
The age, race, gender, and disability status for the children described in subsections (3)(b)(X), (3)(b)(XI), and (3)(b)(XII) of this section; and
(XIV)
The recommendations of the working group made pursuant to subsection (3)(a)(III) of this section.
(c)
Notwithstanding section
24-1-136 (11)(a)(I)
, the report required in subsection (3)(b) of this section continues indefinitely.
(d)
Beginning for state fiscal year 2023-24, and for each fiscal year thereafter, the state department shall collect data statewide concerning the following:
(I)
The demographic information, including race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability status, to the extent the information is available, of the youth in each detention facility who are eligible for release from a detention facility without an additional court order if services or a placement are available for the youth but who are being held in detention due to lack of available services or placement;
(II)
The number of temporary emergency detention beds, described in section
19-2.5-1407.3 (4)
, used each day in each catchment area; and
(III)
The number of youth released from detention solely because the number of youth detained statewide exceeded the statewide detention bed cap established in section
19-2.5-1514
.
(e)
(I)
The working group shall conduct a study to determine how to identify, who possesses, and the best method to collect and report, the following data and information related to juveniles who are detained:
(A)
The number of court orders requested in each judicial district to release a youth who could not otherwise be released from detention and the order was requested solely because the number of youth detained in the judicial district exceeded the number of juvenile detention beds allocated by the division of youth services to the judicial district;
(B)
The number of youth in each judicial district who could not otherwise be released from detention who were released pursuant to a court order to make a detention bed available in the catchment area; and
(C)
The number of youth eligible for release from a detention facility without an additional court order who, after being held in detention for a period of time due to a lack of available services or placement, are released from detention without the identified services or placement, and the number of days between the identification of the need for services or placement and release, for each youth.
(II)
The working group shall include the results of the study in its recommendations made pursuant to subsection (3)(a)(III) of this section.
(f)
If the department is unable to provide any of the data required in the annual report pursuant to subsection (3)(b) of this section, the department shall include in the report its plan to collect and report on the data that is currently unavailable in the following year. The department shall report the missing data the following year.
Amended by 2023 Ch. 287,§ 2, eff. 8/7/2023.
Amended by 2023 Ch. 442,§ 4, eff. 6/7/2023.
Amended by 2022 Ch. 383, § 2, eff. 6/7/2022.
Renumbered from C.R.S. §
19-2-212
and amended by 2021 Ch. 136, § 2, eff. 10/1/2021.
Amended by 2021 Ch. 463, § 7, eff. 7/6/2021.
Amended by 2019 Ch. 294, § 5, eff. 7/1/2019.
L. 2021: IP(1)(a), (1)(a)(IV), (1)(a)(VIII), (1)(a)(IX), and (1)(b)(I) amended and (1)(a)(X), (1)(a)(XI), (1)(a)(XII), (1)(a)(XIII), (1)(a.5), and (3) added, (SB 21-071), ch. 463, p. 3336, § 7, effective July 6; entire article added with relocations, (SB 21-059), ch. 677, p. 677, § 2, effective October 1.
(1) This section is similar to former § 19-2-212 as it existed prior to 2021.
(2) Subsections IP(1)(a), (1)(a)(IV), (1)(a)(VIII), (1)(a)(IX), (1)(a)(X), (1)(a)(XI), (1)(a)(XII), (1)(a)(XIII), (1)(a.5), (1)(b)(I), and (3) were numbered as
19-2-212
IP(1)(a), (1)(a)(IV), (1)(a)(VIII), (1)(a)(IX), (1)(a)(X), (1)(a)(XI), (1)(a)(XII), (1)(a)(XIII), (1)(a.5), (1)(b)(I), and (3) in SB 21-071 (see L. 2021, p. 3336 ). Those provisions were harmonized with subsections IP(1)(a), (1)(a)(IV), (1)(a)(VIII), (1)(a)(IX), (1)(a)(X), (1)(a)(XI), (1)(a)(XII), (1)(a)(XIII), (1)(a.5), (1)(b)(I), and (3) of this section as they appear in SB 21-059.
2023 Ch. 287, was passed without a safety clause. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(3).
This section is set out more than once due to postponed, multiple, or conflicting amendments.