My Plan for Change
It's Time to ACT
Accountability
Recidivist offenders locked up. Gun crimes and car theft fully prosecuted.
Community Prosecution
Prosecutors held accountable to community and responsive to their needs
Treatment
Compassionate Care and Pathways to Treatment rather than just jail or catch and release
Accountability
Violent and repeat offenders must be held accountable and prosecuted. Over the past four years, crime is up dramatically in Denver, much of which is being committed by repeat offenders. The D.A.’s office should focus on preventing recidivism by ensuring offenders’ ongoing accountability to the criminal justice system and to their community. Jails cells should not be revolving doors, and arrest or release should not be a binary choice. There are multiple pathways to hold offenders accountable.
Gun violence and fentanyl dealing are some of the most serious crimes plaguing our communities. But property crime and motor vehicle theft has also been an ongoing scourge on our community felt by far too many Denver residents. It is particularly egregious for the outsized impact it has on the lives of our low-income residents for whom a stolen car, a bicycle or a laptop is an impossible financial burden.
Denver deserves a district attorney with a proven track record of taking on the hardest cases and holding people accountable.
Community Prosecution
Community prosecution is a model where prosecutors are held accountable to community and work proactively responding to their needs.
Prosecutors are responsible for developing relationships in their district, including fire departments, faith leaders, youth leaders, the business community and school leaders. A prosecutor from each team acts as a liaison with each community group and must be familiar with the needs and crime problems of a given neighborhood, developed in consultation with community leaders and police, enabling them to solve problems in the community. Prosecutors will be responsive to community concerns and decisions will be transparent. There must be trust built between the justice system and communities. I am committed to making sure that all people have access to the justice system.
Under my leadership victims are referred to specialized units for serious crimes like sexual assault and domestic violence. I will establish a labor trafficking unit, a public corruption unit, hire a police accountability director, and increase restorative justice opportunities throughout my office.
Treatment
Those with severe mental illness and/or substance abuse may not belong in jail for certain misdemeanors and low level felonies. Jails are not equipped to care for these people and criminal justice is not the right place to serve as a treatment center. We can not simply ignore people who commit crimes.
Instead, here’s what we can do.
My work now for the governor’s administration has taught me multiple ways to help use civil courts to move people into treatment including assisted outpatient therapy, where court ordered treatment programs allow community-based outpatient treatment for individuals who are severely mentally ill and/or suffering from substance use disorder through a civil court order. We cannot continue to ignore people on the street who are sick and struggling.