Denver, CO – Colorado legislators today rejected a bail reform Bill aimed at requiring the use of “risk assessments” by failing to advance the Bill out of committee.
The “County Jail Funding and Overcrowding Solutions Interim Study Committee” met today to consider Bill 2: “Reforming Risk Assessment and Bonding.”
The Bill would have essentially required mandatory pretrial risk supervision and risk assessment programs in all 64 counties in Colorado – and the elimination of financial conditions of bail in large numbers of cases.
Senator Crowder, a member of the committee, expressed concerns over the accountability of a zero bond process. Senator Fields supported the measure despite the many recent detractors of the use of algorithms in criminal justice – highlighted this week by a report citing an AI NOW study from New York University.
Ultimately, the committee voted against the Bill advancing out of the interim committee.
“The rejection by a bipartisan committee at this early in the process seems to be a strong indicator that the fascination surrounding these dangerous “black box” algorithm risk assessments is fading.”
– Jeff Clayton, Executive Director, American Bail Coalition
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