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Colorado Democrats Push Prison Release Measures As Capacity Pressures Mount
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Democrats Push Prison Release Measures As Capacity Pressures Mount

By Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado Three months after the legislative Joint Budget Committee approved emergency funding for nearly 1,000 more beds in Colorado's prisons, the system is already near capacity again. Gov. Jared Polis asked the committee for up to $200 million to reopen a private prison. It set aside about $6 million to partially reopen the facility but, it will cost another $40 million a year to operate it. That's a non-starter for many Democrats who have introduced bills aimed at lowering the prison population instead. State analysis shows that while admissions have been constant, releases are down. State Rep. Jennifer Bacon says the Parole Board has released only 29 inmates this year out of nearly 240 who are past their parole e...
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If the state can take property without a conviction, no property is safe
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

If the state can take property without a conviction, no property is safe

By Rep. Ken DeGraaf | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Civil asset forfeiture began as a narrow exception in colonial maritime law, not as a general tool of domestic policing. In those early admiralty cases, the government often had jurisdiction over the ship or cargo, but not over the owner. The vessel might be in port, but the owner could be overseas, unknown, or beyond the reach of the court. In that circumstance, proceeding against the property itself—an action in rem—was often the only practical way to enforce customs law.  Justice Neil Gorsuch recently highlighted this history in his concurrence in Culley v. Marshall and asked the obvious question: if the government today has full jurisdiction over the person—if it can arrest, charge, and prosecute them directly—...
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Bill Targeting Government Purchase of Personal Data Faces Law Enforcement Opposition
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Bill Targeting Government Purchase of Personal Data Faces Law Enforcement Opposition

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics A bipartisan coalition of Colorado lawmakers is advancing a bill that would prohibit police from purchasing personal consumer data without a warrant, setting up a clash with prosecutors who warn the measure could hamper criminal investigations. House Bill 1037, sponsored by Reps. Jennifer Bacon, D-Denver, and Ken DeGraaf, R-Colorado Springs, and Sen. Lisa Cutter, D-Evergreen, would prohibit law enforcement and government entities from purchasing “certain personal data” from third parties without a warrant, except in emergencies. The bill, which sponsors are calling the “Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale Act,” aims to prohibit personal data purchased from a third party from being used as evidence in court. “Fundamentally, w...
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