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This memorandum provides an overview of known online data collection and tracking methods often used by third parties, including data brokers. While the ecosystem of online data collection and tracking is vast, this memorandum primarily focuses on user side collection and tracking methods and briefly describes ongoing research regarding non-user-side third-party data tracking and brokerage.

This memorandum provides an overview of the process in Colorado for removing criminal records from publicly available sources, known as the “sealing” or “expungement” of criminal records.

This memorandum provides a listing of criminal justice reform legislation enacted in Colorado from 2015 through 2025. More specifically, the attached table provides the bill number, title, and description of the criminal justice reform legislation, organized by category.

Sunset laws allow the General Assembly to periodically review the need for state regulations, advisory committees, or state agencies and to update the law creating the agency or function.  To accomplish this review, committees of reference hold public sunset hearings on sunset reports issued by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA).

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

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted almost every aspect of society, including the criminal justice system, leaving crowded courts, prisons, and jails especially susceptible to the outbreak.  This memorandum provides an overview of how prisons in Colorado are reacting to this public health emergency.

Individuals convicted of criminal offenses are typically required by the court to pay associated fines, fees, and surcharges.  This memorandum provides an overview of the fines and fees that are imposed upon a criminal conviction in Colorado, including those financial obligations that support supervision and incarceration.  The collection and distribution of funds is also covered.  

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted almost every aspect of society, including the criminal justice system, leaving crowded courts, prisons and jails especially susceptible to the outbreak. This memorandum provides an overview of how Community Corrections is handling this public health emergency.  Please note that the COVID-19 situation is rapidly changing, and staff will be monitoring changes and making updates.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted almost every aspect of society, including the criminal justice system, leaving crowded courts, prisons and jails especially susceptible to the outbreak.  This memorandum provides an overview of how the juvenile justice system in Colorado is handling this public health emergency.  Please note that the COVID-19 situation is rapidly changing, and staff will be monitoring changes and making updates.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted almost every aspect of society, including the criminal justice system, leaving crowded courts, prisons and jails especially susceptible to the outbreak. This memorandum provides an overview of how courts in Colorado are handling this public health emergency.  Please note that the COVID-19 situation is rapidly changing, and staff will be monitoring changes and making updates.

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. 

This memorandum provides an overview of statutes of limitations, including factors that impact length, such as statutes of repose and tolling.  The memorandum also includes tables listing the various criminal and civil statutes of limitations and statutes of repose in the state. 

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

This memorandum provides an overview of jury duty for criminal trials in Colorado, including how jurors are summoned, excused, selected, paid, and impaneled.  Jury deliberations, instructions, and verdicts are also covered.

This memorandum provides an overview of how post-conviction sex offender polygraph testing (PCSOT) is used for adult sex offenders in Colorado, as well as in other states.  It also includes a summary of current research on its effectiveness. 

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 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 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 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 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 summarizes Colorado law that governs the visitation rights of grandparents and great-grandparents and disputes concerning those rights.  The memorandum also summarizes relevant court decisions regarding grandparents' visitation rights. This memorandum is not a legal opinion.

This memorandum provides information concerning the use of capital punishment in Colorado and across the country.  The memorandum provides a brief history of Colorado’s death penalty scheme and information on recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions concerning the constitutionality of the death penalty.  It also explains the current death penalty scheme in Colorado, including procedures used in sentencing and required review by trial courts and the Colorado Supreme Court.

This memorandum provides an overview of the County Courthouse and County Jail Funding and Overcrowding Solutions Interim Study Committee, including the charge of the committee, the committee membership, the bill limits, the bill request deadlines applicable to the committee, and information about the committee staff and website.

This memorandum provides a legislative history of county courthouse funding in Colorado.  Specifically, this memorandum provides information on:

• the origins of county courthouse funding laws;
• notable legal decisions regarding county courthouse funding;
• county courthouse funding reports and recommendations;
• bills introduced, but not enacted related to county courthouse funding; and
• county court supplemental funding grant legislation.

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