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The Colorado General Assembly passed a variety of criminal and juvenile justice related bills in 2024. The new laws changed record sealing, criminal penalties, court procedures, behavioral health, bail, recidivism, and other relevant topics.

This guide is a compilation of crimes and traffic infractions in Colorado.  For each offense, a brief description of the elements of the crime and the statutory citation is provided.

Crime Classification Guide for Class 2 Petty Offenses

Crime Classification Guide for Class B Traffic Infractions 

Pursuant to Interim Committee Letter 2015-5, submitted as required by Section 2-3-303.3, Colorado Revised Statutes. The purpose of this committee is to study data collection and evaluation methods related to contacts made by law enforcement officers to determine whether profiling is occurring in Colorado.

Pursuant to Interim Committee Letter 2015-3. The purpose of the committee was to examine vocational rehabilitation services for the blind, the use of available funding, and program performance in order to determine the most effective structure and delivery model for vocational rehabilitation services.

Pursuant to House Joint Resolution 13-1019. The purpose of this committee is to examine and make recommendations on current laws, procedures, and practices for the appointment of counsel, advisement of rights, and waivers of counsel for children in juvenile delinquency court.

This memorandum provides a listing of criminal justice reform legislation enacted in Colorado from 2013 through 2023.  More specifically, the attached table provides the bill number, title, and description of the criminal justice reform legislation, organized by category.

This issue brief outlines the commutation and pardon authority of the Governor and state legislature in Colorado. It provides an overview of the application process to seek clemency for a crime, and data on the number of pardons and commutations since 2017.

Final Report to the Colorado General Assembly by the Treatment of Persons With Mental Health Disorders in the Criminal Justice System Committee.

Summary report for the Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning the Treatment of Persons with Mental Health Disorders in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice System.

Crime Classification Guide for Class 2 Misdemeanors

This memorandum provides an overview of county jails, including their function, population served, cost per day, and relationship with the state Department of Corrections.

Final Report to the Colorado General Assembly by the Legislative Oversight Committee Concerning the Treatment of Persons with Mental Health Disorders in the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Systems.

This memorandum addresses abuse of corpse laws in the 50 states.  While the vast majority of states have enacted abuse of corpse or other related laws, they differ in definition and crime classification.  For example, some states outline penalties for mutilating or defacing a corpse, while others more broadly define it as “outraging family sensibilities.”  Over half of the states (27) have classified this crime as a felony instead of a misdemeanor. 

During the 2018 legislative session, the General Assembly introduced numerous bills concerning crimes,criminal penalties, and law enforcement.

This memorandum provides an overview of state laws that address age of consent for sexual activity.  More specifically, it provides information about the age of sexual consent in Colorado and other states, including exemptions that allow a person below the age of consent to have lawful sex with an older person.  The memorandum further outlines the sexual abuse charges that are used to prosecute age of consent and sexual assault-related crimes within Colorado.

This memorandum provides an overview of the sentencing categories in state law for felony and misdemeanor offenses, including special offender sentencing.  The memorandum also explains the sentencing scheme for drug offenses and for habitual offenders.  There are two appendices that accompany this memorandum.  Appendix A provides a summary of sentencing legislation since 2010.  Appendix B lists the ranges for felony presumptive sentencing and special sentencing categories.

This memorandum provides an overview of the mandatory minimum sentencing schemes in Colorado law.  It provides information on the general categories of offenses subject to enhanced prison sentences and specific crimes that require a mandatory minimum sentence. Three years of sentencing data are included to show the application of the sentencing schemes for each category of offense.

This memorandum provides information concerning second look sentencing.  Second look sentencing refers to sentence modification that occurs while an offender is serving his or her term of incarceration.  This memorandum briefly describes second look sentencing and discusses the differences between it and other forms of sentence modification.  The memorandum then explains second look sentencing schemes for juveniles in other states, describing Oregon’s scheme in detail, as well as discussing a recently created Colorado program for juvenile offenders.

This memo explains enhanced sentencing requirements for two different criminal offense categories: crimes of violence and habitual offenders. It also provides sentencing data for offenders convicted of crimes of violence or as habitual offenders between 2014 and 2016.  During this three year period, 416 offenders were sentenced to the Department of Corrections (DOC) for crimes of violence and 150 were sentenced to the DOC as habitual offenders. Sentencing data for these offenders are shown by crime, felony classification, sentencing range, and county

This section contains a current listing of misdemeanor offenses. Misdemeanor offenses are categorized as follows: class 1, class 2, class 3, and unclassified misdemeanors. The penalty for the commission of a misdemeanor offense depends on its classification. The penalty scheme for misdemeanors is indicated in Table 3 below

Crime Classification Guide for Class 3 Misdemeanors