According to a recent op-ed piece by Bill Johnson at The Denver Post, 179 kids have been killed by abuse or neglect over the last 7 years in Colorado. It’s difficult to even fathom how many of those deaths could have been avoided if there were adequate state resources to address the problem.

A subject that Johnson doesn’t broach, but is absolutely relevant to those tragic deaths, is the number of abused kids we end up incarcerating rather than treating. The tragic and well documented fact is that the State of Colorado doesn’t have the resources to follow up on every alleged abuse, but when abused children attempt to defend themselves–when they sometimes kill to defend themselves–we waste no expense in prosecuting them to the fullest extent of the law.

That’s what happened to Jacob Ind. It’s what has happened to dozens of Colorado prisoners.

Why? How can we let tragedies like these happen? Is it so we can claim to be “tough on crime?” Is it because we just don’t have the time to care? Maybe someone should ask the Colorado Department of Corrections. Maybe we should ask the Colorado District Attorney’s Counsel. Or better yet, maybe we should ask our state legislators. Someone has to have an answer. Maybe we should accept the shame, as Bill Johnson suggests, and start by asking ourselves–no link provided.

From CNN. Its a good report and worth checking out.

This was written about a year and a half ago, but I found it interesting and worth posting. From The Washington Examiner, check it out and let me know what you think.

From The Kansas City Star. A very interesting analysis. This is one our main points of contention with direct file, that it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

From the The Detroit News. This is interesting and many of the quotes explain exactly what is wrong with direct file.

This is a great story that was in the Denver Post just a few weeks ago.

“Youth offenders given sentences of life without the chance of parole may yet have a shot at release. But are we doing enough for them?”