When Shawn Pollock was 15 years old, he was arrested and sent to the Lookout Mountain Youth Detention Center. He said he spent four years in custody trying to become a better person, with aspirations of attending college after his release.

Those hopes were dashed when, after he was let out at 19, Pollock learned he owed $256,000 in restitution fees to an insurance company for his crime. 

“I asked (my mentor), ‘If I pay $100 a month, how many years will it take me to pay that off?’ She told me 213 years,” Pollock said in a written testimony. “I was heartbroken. I will be in debt for the rest of my life. Will my kids have to pay off what I don’t after I die?”

With an 8% interest rate and a prior $2,000 restitution fee from when he was 14, Pollock said he is now over $275,000 in debt at only 20 years old.

Pollack is not alone.

From 2016 to 2020, 234 juveniles in Colorado were ordered to pay over $3.57 million in restitution fees to insurance companies, according to state data. Of that $3.57 million, only $146,348 – or 4% – has been paid.

Colorado lawmakers are tackling the issue via House Bill 1373, which would prohibit courts from ordering juveniles to pay restitution to insurance companies. The bill would still allow juveniles to pay restitution to victims.

“What we’re seeking to do in this particular bill is not to say that young people should not be accountable … what this bill does is say that insurance companies are not victims,” said bill sponsor Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, D-Denver.

Supporters of the bill said high restitution fees from insurance companies continue a cycle of crime and poverty for juveniles, pushing them to reoffend to pay off impossibly high debts as they struggle to find work with criminal records. These debts also often get pushed onto parents, as many juvenile offenders are not old enough to legally work.

They added that restitution fees are not dischargeable by filing for bankruptcy and can prohibit youth from activities, such as getting a driver’s license or taking out loans for school or work.

The House Judiciary Committee advanced the bill Wednesday in an 8-3 vote, sending it to the full House for consideration. The vote was mostly split along party lines with Democrats in support and Republicans in opposition, except for Rep. Mike Lynch, R-Wellington, who voted in favor of the bill.

“Insurance company victims, those folks who are paying the premiums, that cost gets passed on to them,” said Rep. Rod Bockenfeld, R-Watkins, who opposed the bill. “You’ve now made a whole new class of victims out there with higher premiums because they don’t have the capability of collecting back their losses.”

Gonzales-Gutierrez said the bill would not raise premiums because, under the current system, more than 95% of the restitution fees are already not being paid. She said this results in victims not being fully compensated.

No one testified against the bill during Wednesday’s committee meeting, but several people spoke in favor of it, including multiple former juvenile offenders.

In his written testimony, Pollock said he is on a $50 per month payment plan for the more than $275,000 that he owes, though it will take him three years just to pay off the first $2,000 fee from when he was 14. Pollock said he still dreams of going to college and opening his own business, but fears that may never happen with his crippling debt and inability to get a business loan.

“I understand I need to pay for the harm I’ve done, but does it have to be a life sentence?” Pollock asked. “Am I not allowed a second chance to prove I’ve learned from my mistakes?”