Status:
Active
Youth Justice

Ending Childhood Prosecution (2022 & 2023)

HB 22-1131 (Gonzales-Gutierrez)
Location
Colorado

Children deserve care and support, not cages and confinement. This is particularly true for children and youth who should be kept out of the juvenile court system entirely. 
Colorado allows the harmful practice of allowing children under the age of 12 to be criminalized in the juvenile court system. 

The Ending Childhood Prosecution Act brings Colorado into alignment with current understanding that subjecting young children to juvenile court prosecution is ineffective and harmful to their emotional and physical wellbeing. The bill ends the early criminalization of children by establishing a minimum age for juvenile court prosecution at age 12 and instead offers opportunity for them to succeed with effective, cost-effective community services.     

Related Initiatives

Create a Youth Justice System That Supports Development and Opportunity

NCYL develops, passes, and implements policies and practices that divert young people away from punitive systems and toward supportive, community-based solutions.
See All Laws & Policy

End School-Based Ticketing (2024)

HB 3413 (Ford)

Ending the unjust practice of referring students to be ticketed for an incident that can be pursued through the school district’s discipline policy
Active

Justice for Survivors (2024)

AB 2354 (Bonta)

AB 2354 is a crucial bill in California aimed at ensuring that all survivors of intimate partner violence, human trafficking, and other forms of violence can petition the court for vacatur relief,
Active

Justice for Survivors (2023)

AB 1497 (Haney)

Creating meaningful pathways to justice for survivors of trauma, domestic violence, sexual violence, and human trafficking who are funneled into our criminal legal system is important for their healing and care, and to stop the further criminalization of victims. Often survivors of survivors of
Inactive