HB 26-1064

House Bill 26-1064 updates Colorado’s Youthful Offender System by focusing on better support for young offenders between the ages of 18 and 25. It emphasizes providing trauma-informed care, addressing mental health needs, and ensuring fair treatment for those with disabilities. The bill also requires the Department of Corrections to report on completion rates and implement evidence-based treatments. Signed into law, this means that changes are now in effect to help young offenders transition back into society more successfully while prioritizing their safety and well-being.

Official Summary

Current law establishes the youthful offender system (system) in the department of corrections (department) as a sentencing option that provides a continuum of services. The act:Updates references to the juveniles and young adults who are eligible for or participating in the system;Revises certain legislative intent provisions to emphasize lasting behavioral changes in preparation for reentry, trauma-informed care, addressing criminogenic risk, accountability, healthy relationship building, and system participant and staff safety;Expresses the general assembly's intent that juveniles and young adults with physical, intellectual, mental, or behavioral health disabilities or conditions receive equitable treatment in sentencing to the system and reasonable accommodations once in the system;Adds certain data related to system completion rates to an existing annual reporting requirement for the department;Adds requirements for evidence-informed rehabilitative treatment and life skills programming and for individual therapy, family therapy, or substance use disorder treatment;Establishes requirements for system participant evaluations, plans for addressing participants' needs and skills, and case manager duties;Requires the department, in consultation with relevant experts, to make and publish on its website recommendations for integrating a trauma-informed standard of care with current system practices to promote the health and safety of system participants; andExpands certain procedural protections for system participants with mental or behavioral health conditions or intellectual and developmental disabilities.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)

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