GUEST COLUMN: Public safety is too important to politicize | Opinion

With the November election just around the corner, the political rhetoric around crime is ramping up across Colorado.

Public safety is an important issue for many voters, and it deserves careful consideration and thoughtful policy debate. Unfortunately, that’s not what they are likely to get over the next few months, and it could come at a significant cost to our state.

Over the past several years, Colorado has taken major strides toward improving fairness and efficiency in its criminal justice system. Many of the adopted reforms were the products of bipartisan legislation, extensive stakeholder engagement and strong public support.

Several of the policies appear to be having positive impacts, while others are too fresh to draw conclusions about their effects. But this hasn’t stopped politicians and commentators from blaming them for recent increases in certain types of crime.

Former Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler has been among the most vocal, claiming Colorado’s “offender-friendly” laws have resulted in a “crime tsunami.”

This is also the thesis of a report he co-wrote for a local think tank with strong political ties, which has been repeatedly cited by political candidates and writers to paint opponents as “soft on crime.”

The Gazette editorial board recently took this misguided theory even further, declaring state Sen. Pete Lee of Colorado Springs has “burdened our state with crime” because he has championed legislation aimed at promoting prevention and treatment over punishment and incarceration.

These baseless and oversimplified claims might make for good soundbites, but they do nothing to advance public safety or improve public understanding. In fact, they jeopardize them by politicizing the issue and obfuscating the factors that drive crime.

This past legislative session, state lawmakers asked Lisa Pasko, chair of criminology and sociology at the University of Denver, to offer her perspective on the recent increase in some crimes in Colorado.

According to Pasko, crime recently increased in states around the country regardless of whether they enacted reforms, and there is no causal link between increases in crime and changes to criminal laws.

Crime is an extremely complex issue, and decades of research have linked crime levels to instability within a community. This includes housing insecurity, unemployment and joblessness, family disruption and violence, mental health struggles, drug and alcohol abuse, a lack of access to services and fewer youth in school.

These destabilizing factors were dramatically exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ignoring them and casting blame squarely on criminal justice reform is a distraction from the real issues underlying crime in our state.

Ironically, reforms that are being attacked as “soft on crime” are aimed at addressing those underlying factors.

In 2014, Sen. Lee sponsored bipartisan legislation to create the WAGEES grant program, which invests in community-based reentry services for people released from prison. Over 9,200 people have enrolled in a WAGEES program statewide, including over 850 who were paroled to Colorado Springs. State Department of Corrections data indicates participants are much less likely to recidivate, and the Urban Institute called it a model for the nation.

In 2017, Sen. Lee sponsored legislation (again bipartisan) to create the Transforming Justice initiative, which invests in community-led crime prevention efforts. It is being piloted in two cities, including Colorado Springs, where it has served almost 8,000 adults and youths. Preliminary data from both cities indicate 86% of adults served have not returned to incarceration. Nine out of 10 youths served have avoided or mitigated involvement in the legal system, and every participating school has indicated a reduction in suspensions, expulsions, and referrals to law enforcement. In light of its success, the Legislature expanded the pilot to include two more cities.

From 2019 to 2021, rates of violent crime and property crime in Colorado increased 17% and 20%, respectively. In El Paso County, they decreased 2% and 11%, respectively. This seems to conflict with The Gazette’s claim that Pete Lee is responsible for “burdening us with crime.”

Did the senator have it right all along?

It’s too soon to tell. State officials need to keep collecting data and ensure they have sufficient evidence before jumping to any conclusions. Politicians and political commentators should do the same.

Public safety is too important to politicize.

Christie Donner is executive director of Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition.