From 2011 to 2021, juveniles aged 10-12 committed 187 felony assaults, 191 burglaries, 16 armed robberies and more than 1,500 sex offenses, including sexual assault, incest and sexual assault on a child.

This past Tuesday, 25 Democrats and two Republicans launched a bill to prevent those perpetrators of serious and aggravated crimes from facing any charges ever. It also destroys an already effective juvenile justice system decades in the making that applies to children. This long, tortured bill is one of the worst, most misguided, unjust bills to be introduced in the General Assembly in the 28 years I have worked in the justice system. There is so much wrong with this bill, I cannot adequately cover it in this word-limited column.

HB23-1249 provides a single exception for 10-to-12-year-olds: murder. Only murder. There is no exception for attempted murder, sex offenses or other violent crimes, no matter how many times they are repeated. Law enforcement is reduced to filling out a form – not a full-blown investigation – just a form. They are not even allowed to temporarily detain the offender. They give the form to the offender, the parents and the victim. And then they leave. There is no need to conduct any further investigation after determining probable cause exists for the commission of some/any crime, because it would have no value to the system. No DA to review charges. No judge to ensure due process for the offender. Just a conclusory form that cannot be appealed.

The ONLY consequence for the sexual abuser or violent offender is a meeting. A meeting with a “collaborative management board” whose members are not required to have any experience or training in sex offenses or anything else. The board has no authority (like the kind the juvenile courts currently have) to order the offender to obtain treatment of any kind. There are no consequences or incentives for the offender to participate in anything. If the violent 12-year-old skips the first meeting – they hold another meeting. If that one is blown off, a third meeting is set and if that meeting fails, well then, the case might get referred to Human Services for a possible dependency and neglect case filing. That case could (maybe) lead to foster care. And that is all. Forever. Zero accountability. Zero treatment. Zero justice.

Here is how it would work: a 12-year-old brings a gun to school. He may have done this numerous times, but he was never able to be detained or confined. He shoots his teacher and several of his classmates. Despite the best efforts of the shooter and the causation of life-altering injuries, including paralysis, brain damage, and other permanent damage, all the victims live. No murder. This bill would preclude that shooter from being arrested – even temporarily. No case will be filed. The would-be murderer will be sent home to await the several meetings they are not compelled to attend, and to not complete the therapy they cannot be ordered to participate in. The exact same outcome occurs for a 12-year-old rapist of another child. Even if it is a repeated act of rape or incest.

The bill’s devastating impact on juvenile justice does not end with 10-to-12 year-old offenders. Thirteen-year-olds no longer can be transferred to adult court – even for murder. Those aged 14-to-17 years cannot be transferred to adult court for countless felonies, regardless of how many times they commit them. A 17 year-old with a prior DUI who drives drunk the day before his 18th birthday and crashes into a family on the road killing all of them (and his own passenger) cannot be transferred to adult court. He faces only juvenile consequences.

This bill hates victims. Supporters of this bill devalue victims and leave them with little information and even less protection. Because there will be no criminal case, gone are the automatic protection orders mandating the perpetrator have no contact with the victim. Instead, victims will be shown a how-to video on getting a civil protection order that has no enforcement mechanism. The bill precludes a court from holding in contempt a juvenile offender who ignores the protection order. A 12-year-old rapist can continue to have unwanted and repeated contact with his victim and the system is powerless to do anything about it. Well, except maybe have another meeting. As well, with no criminal case, victims are cut off from constitutionally mandated access to information and input on their victimizer’s case.

The sponsors of this miscarriage of justice will have no data to support trashing our effective juvenile justice system. They will rely upon anecdotes, likely from decades ago or from other states. If this bill becomes law, Colorado will be less safe, there will be more victims of crime, those victims will be less protected, and juvenile offenders will receive less rehabilitation, less support and less accountability.

Governor Polis, veto this bill.

George Brauchler is the former district attorney for the 18th Judicial District. He also is an Owens Early Criminal Justice Fellow at the Common Sense Institute and president of the Advance Colorado Academy, which identifies, trains and connects conservative leaders in Colorado. He hosts The George Brauchler Show on 710KNUS Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Follow him on Twitter: @GeorgeBrauchler.