Policing, Incarceration, and Parole in Colorado. Counterpoint to the idea that Evans was a monster. Are Colorado's Missing Indigenous Persons Alerts Working?
A new report on policing, legislation, and incarceration in Colorado is out from the conservative-leaning Common Sense Institute.
I've linked below to the PDF "one-pager" (quick summary) and then to the place where you can download the full report in that order.
I'll leave it to you to read up on the one-pager or the full report, but there were a couple of things that stuck out to me that I want to highlight
--I like that this paper acknowledges and delves into all aspects of the crime problem. As I have mentioned here, it is not just police. It's not just law. It's not just the judiciary. It is all 3. If we have police but we're paroling people (or letting them off on PR bonds) that oughtn't to be, that's going to give us a problem. If we have a judiciary, but their hands are tied re. sentencing by lenient laws, we have a problem. You'll see more than one facet here.
--I want you to take a look at the attached screencap. It's confusing as hell so what I did was highlight Denver's police presence (officers per 100,000) and the crime rate (per 100,000) in blue and the same quantities for Colorado Springs in red.
You need to be aware that with studies like these (and articles in the press), the numbers are always apt to be manipulated, so take the actual numbers with a grain of salt and watch the trends. More officers, less crime. Fewer officers, more crime. Denver's PD numbers fall and the crime rises, the opposite happens in the Springs.
--Crime can directly cost money, but it also carries an opportunity cost. Take a look at screenshot 2. When an area has high crime, people are loathe to go there. People are loathe to start businesses there. People are loathe to invest in businesses that might want to start there. Economic activity is curtailed. In this graph (highlighted with Denver = D and The Springs = CS) you see a comparison of the crime concentration (crime per population per area) vs. the amount of taxable sales (used as a proxy for economic activity) for Denver vs. the Springs.
--Look at the one pager starting on p 18. Examine the spending by the District Attorney's offices for Denver and the Springs.
--Look at screenshot 3. I highlighted a couple of things about people on parole going back to prison. TV refers to those sent to prison on techniical violations of parole. NC is for those sent to prison on new crimes. CR refers to crime rate. Note that after a spike in sending people to prison that were on parole and who committed a new offense, the rate of return to prison for new crimes has leveled off. Note that the number of people committing a violation of their parole conditions (but not a new offense) and getting sent to prison has fallen dramatically. Now look up at the crime rate. If we are not sending people back to prison when they violate parole what message do we send? If we are not sending them to prison when on parole and commit a new crime what message do we send?
Are there any trends or things that stick out to you? Please feel free to add to the comments.
Again, remember that this problem is not due to one single aspect of our criminal justice system in Colorado. It's not just the laws. It's not just parole.
If you read through the one-pager, a picture emerges of how these things (with recent changes to policy across multiple agencies) work in concert to give us the problem we have now.
Having defined some of the problem, the question now is do the Democrats running this state have the will to start chipping away at the problem?
https://commonsenseinstituteco.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FINAL-CSI-Report-CO-Fight-Against-Crime.pdf
https://commonsenseinstituteco.org/policing-legislation-and-incarceration/
Presented in the interest of balance and reading widely--was Evans enough of a monster to be memory-holed in Colorado history?
The op ed below provides some pushback on the ideas circulating out there about Evans and his history in Colorado.
Worth a read and some consideration. If nothing else, if it doesn't change your mind, I hope you at least understand some of the other side's views (and there's been precious little discussion in the media, we've had mostly Democrat talking points so far in my opinion).
https://denvergazette.com/opinion/columns/guest-column-mt-evans-namesake-has-been-unfairly-maligned/article_040af27f-8697-577c-8d3d-63cddcefd8b8.html
An update to the state's Missing Indigenous Person Alerts system.
The article below updates the results on Colorado's 6 month old Missing Indigenous Person Alerts program.
I remember posting about this and the law that created it. I remember being in favor of it.
People from this group go missing at a higher rate.
Our media doesn't pay enough attention to these folks (and you can say the same about other issues involving minorities such as gang shootings and etc).
The goal of the office was to try and help fix the problem by trying to get the word out more about missing indigenous people. How are they doing?
I'll leave it to you to wade through the article. I say wade here because it's chockablock with lots of personal stories and etc. I was hoping for more detail on the success of the office, but that is pretty sparse if you read around the reporting that's there to make it emotionally compelling.
I think some of that may be because it's new.
I think some of that may be because it would be hard to have a control condition (for example, you couldn't randomly pick people that you issue an alert for and ones that you don't).
Still, there does appear to be some kinks in the system that need to be worked out and it looks like discussions are underway there.
Tremendous success or no, I'd say that this program should continue and I do hope they get the bugs worked out. For the costs incurred vs. the potential benefit to be gained, I think it's worth doing.
https://denverite.com/2023/06/05/colorados-missing-indigenous-person-alerts-has-been-in-use-for-six-months-and-most-have-been-issued-in-denver-are-they-working/