With over 215 municipal courts, each year thousands of Colorado youth and their families become involved in the municipal court system, often through tickets for school based offenses. Despite this, there is limited data on youth’s experiences with municipal courts in Colorado. By analyzing the most frequent offenses charged against youth and the consequences they face in the Lakewood Municipal Court, this report illuminates the practices and processes in Lakewood and municipal courts across the state. Data, court observations, and discussions with court personnel, parents and youth revealed that involvement with municipal courts can result in severe and long term repercussions including the assessment of fees, and fines up to $2,650 per violation. The authors recommend eliminating fines and fees for youth, among other reforms that prioritize the needs of youth and their families.
Read the full report here.
Key Findings
- Colorado law allows municipal courts to assess a variety of fees, and fines as high as $2,650; Lakewood allows fines as high as the state maximum and empowers judges to use their discretion to determine the fine amount.
- Lakewood judges imposed more than $27,000 in juvenile fines from 2019 to 2022, with assessments as high as $500, and an average of $153 per assessment.
- From 2019 to 2022, the court ordered 2,103 youth to pay $358,089 in fines and fees, or an average of $170 in fines and fees per youth. Nearly $116,898 of the fines and fees assessed are still outstanding, totaling nearly 33% of uncollected youth fines and fees.
- If any financial consequences are too onerous for the youth and their family, they have the burden of demonstrating their inability to pay by completing an affidavit of indigency form or application for reduced cost juvenile services.
- If a youth fails to pay a fine or fee, the court can confine the youth to a juvenile detention facility for up to 48 hours or order in-home detention for up to ten days.
- In 2022, Lakewood’s budgeted revenue was $218,760,052, but they collected only $31,740.14, primarily in fees, from youth cases, making up approximately 0.01% of Lakewood’s 2022 revenue.