Colorado § 19-2.5-1126 - Sentencing - special offenders.

§ 19-2.5-1126. Sentencing - special offenders.

(1) The court shall sentence a juvenile adjudicated as a special offender as follows:

(a) Mandatory sentence offender. The court shall place or commit a juvenile adjudicated as a mandatory sentence offender, as described in section 19-2.5-1125 (1), out of the home for not less than one year, unless the court finds that an alternative sentence or a commitment of less than one year out of the home would be more appropriate; except that:

(I) If the person adjudicated as a mandatory sentence offender is eighteen years of age or older on the date of the sentencing hearing, the court may sentence that person to the county jail or to a community correctional facility or program for a period not to exceed two years, if the person has been adjudicated a mandatory sentence offender pursuant to this article 2.5 for acts committed prior to the person's eighteenth birthday; or

(II) The juvenile or person may be released by the committing judge upon a showing of exemplary behavior.

(b) Repeat juvenile offender. The court shall sentence a juvenile adjudicated as a repeat juvenile offender, as described in section 19-2.5-1125 (2), out of the home for not less than one year, unless the court finds that an alternative sentence or a commitment of less than one year out of the home would be more appropriate; except that:

(I) If the person adjudicated as a repeat juvenile offender is eighteen years of age or older on the date of the sentencing hearing, the court may sentence that person to the county jail or to a community correctional facility or program for a period not to exceed two years, if the person has been adjudicated a repeat juvenile offender pursuant to this article 2.5 for acts committed prior to the person's eighteenth birthday; or

(II) The juvenile or person may be released by the committing judge upon a showing of exemplary behavior.

(c) Violent juvenile offender.

(I) (A) Upon adjudication as a violent juvenile offender, as described in section 19-2.5-1125 (3), the juvenile must be placed or committed out of the home for not less than one year; except that this subsection (1)(c) does not apply to a juvenile who is ten years of age or older, but less than twelve years of age, when the court finds that an alternative sentence or a commitment of less than one year out of the home would be more appropriate.

(B) Upon adjudication as a violent juvenile offender, if the person is eighteen years of age or older on the date of the sentencing hearing, the court may sentence such person to the county jail or to a community correctional facility or program for a period not to exceed two years, if the person has been adjudicated a violent juvenile offender pursuant to this article 2.5 for acts committed prior to the person's eighteenth birthday.

(II) The court may commit a violent juvenile offender to the department of human services. The court may impose a minimum sentence during which the juvenile must not be released from a residential program without prior written approval of the court that made the commitment.

(d) Aggravated juvenile offender. The court shall sentence an aggravated juvenile offender as described in section 19-2.5-1127.

Source: L. 2021: Entire article added with relocations, (SB 21-059), ch. 136, p. 660, § 2, effective October 1.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 19-2-908 as it existed prior to 2021.

ANNOTATION

Law reviews. For article, "Review of New Legislation Relating to Criminal Law", see 11 Colo. Law. 2148 (1982). For article, "Toward an Integrated Theory of Delinquency Responsibility", see 60 Den. L.J. 485 (1983).

Annotator's note. The following annotations include cases decided under former provisions similar to this section.

Statute meets equal protection and due process requirements. Statutory scheme under which juvenile may be classified as mandatory sentence offender either upon probation revocation or upon new adjudication of delinquency and under which prosecutor has discretion to seek revocation rather than new adjudication, thus avoiding necessity for preliminary hearing and jury trial, does not deny juveniles equal protection nor unconstitutionally delegate discretion to prosecutor. People in Interest of D.G., 733 P.2d 1199 (Colo. 1987).

Because former § 19-2-703 (4) provides for notice and a hearing when a juvenile has allegedly violated probation and because the prosecution must establish the alleged criminal offense beyond a reasonable doubt, the statutory scheme under which probation revocation triggers mandatory sentence offender status does not deny due process. People in Interest of D.G., 733 P.2d 1199 (Colo. 1987).

The violent juvenile offender statute does not create a separate and distinct offense; rather, it is a dispositional statute associated with the underlying delinquent act and thus does not violate this constitutional guarantee of equal protection. People in Interest of D.G., 725 P.2d 1166 (Colo. App. 1986).

Section requires court to impose specific disposition. The mandatory sentence provisions do not enhance the disposition but merely require the court to impose a specific disposition on the offender, namely, that the court shall place or commit the offender out of the home for not less than one year. People in Interest of C.R.B., 662 P.2d 198 (Colo. App. 1983).

Mandatory placement or commitment for not less than one year pursuant to the introductory portion of former subsection (2)(b) does not extend to jail sentences imposed pursuant to former subsection (2)(b)(I). People v. T.O., 696 P.2d 811 (Colo. 1985).

Release upon a showing of exemplary behavior. Former subsection (2)(b)(II) does not apply to persons sentenced to jail and provisions relating to good time must be applied. People v. T.O., 696 P.2d 811 (Colo. 1985).

Juvenile's right to equal protection was not violated by trial court's refusal to grant juvenile, who was charged as being a violent juvenile offender, five rather than four peremptory challenges where juvenile failed to show that there was unequal treatment within the class of violent juvenile offenders. Although an aggravated juvenile offender is entitled to five peremptory challenges under former § 19-2-804 (4)(b)(I), the elements constituting an aggravated juvenile offender differ from those constituting a violent juvenile offender. People in Interest of M.M.O.P., 873 P.2d 24 (Colo. App. 1993).

Trial court correctly sentenced juvenile to one-year commitment out of the home where former subsection (2) required that adjudicated violent juvenile offenders "shall" be so committed, where juvenile failed to argue that he fell within one of the statutory exceptions, and where he was not placed on probation so as to qualify for Juvenile Intensive Supervision Program, former § 19-2-1501, et seq. People in Interest of M.M.O.P., 873 P.2d 24 (Colo. App. 1993).

Subsection (1)(c)(I)(A) does not allow a violent juvenile offender to be placed in a custodial placement as an initial sentencing option. The trial court did not err in interpreting the phrase "placed or committed out of the home" as requiring the court to place a juvenile offender in a facility or center operated or licensed by the department of human services. People ex rel. P.C., 80 P.3d 942 (Colo. App. 2003).

Enactment of juvenile intensive supervision program, former § 19-2-1501 et seq., does not change requirements of former subsection (2)(a), as such program applies to any juvenile who has been placed on probation and who presents a high risk of future placement within juvenile correctional facilities. People in Interest of M.M.O.P., 873 P.2d 24 (Colo. App. 1993).

Consecutive terms not authorized. In absence of express authorization in the Colorado Children's Code, court lacks authority to impose consecutive terms of commitment upon one adjudicated both a "repeat juvenile offender" and a "mandatory sentence offender". S.G.W. v. People, 752 P.2d 86 (Colo. 1988).

The sentencing options listed in § 19-2-907 are applicable to mandatory sentence offenders. This section is a supplement to, not a substitute for, § 19-2-907. People in Interest of J.S.R., 2014 COA 98M, 338 P.3d 1088.

This section must be read together with other sentencing provisions of the children's code if the court is to have access to the sentencing options for special offenders that enhance supervision and accountability. People in Interest of J.S.R., 2014 COA 98M, 338 P.3d 1088.

A juvenile court cannot sentence a juvenile to an indeterminate term of DHS commitment. Sections 19-2-601(5)(a)(I), 19-2-909 (1)(a), and 19-2-921 (3)(b) plainly do not allow for sentences constituting a range, but rather require sentences of fixed, definite periods. People in Interest of J.C., 2018 COA 22, 428 P.3d 617.

Applied in People in Interest of C.B., 196 Colo. 362, 585 P.2d 281 (1978).