Author: George Brauchler
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Will Colorado’s legislature fix what it broke? | George Brauchler
Events reported in just the past few days remind us of how the “we know best” philosophy of criminal justice reform under the Gold Dome can work predictable injustices in the real world. On Aug. 5, 2020, 17-year-old Dillon Siebert and two other teenagers murdered a Senegalese family of five by burning them to death…
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COLUMN: No to make-my-shopping-day — but I get it | George Brauchler
The news this week that Denver’s homicide rate is the third fastest-growing in the U.S. surprises few. Our state policymakers’ ongoing failure to protect us from expanding crime is encouraging Coloradans to look to themselves for protection. The latest effort to expand when lethal force can be used with legal impunity to include businesses is…
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COLUMN: State of the State falls short on fixes of crime | George Brauchler
“Every person deserves a safe home and a safe community, and in three years I want Colorado to be closing in on our goal of becoming one of the top ten safest states.” Agreed. Polis should be applauded for using some of his 8,100-word and 70-minute State of the State address to touch upon one…
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COLUMN: Our juvenile offender-friendly legislature cues up | George Brauchler
Despite significant changes in the past decade weakening our juvenile justice system, things are about to get even easier on violent juvenile criminals. If the early bills of the heavily progressive 2023 General Assembly are a harbinger of what is to come, this legislative session will be as offender friendly as any Colorado has seen.…
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COLUMN: Our juvenile offender-friendly legislature cues up | George Brauchler
Despite significant changes in the past decade weakening our juvenile justice system, things are about to get even easier on violent juvenile criminals. If the early bills of the heavily progressive 2023 General Assembly are a harbinger of what is to come, this legislative session will be as offender friendly as any Colorado has seen.…
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How Dems can make Colorado safe again | BRAUCHLER
The aftermath of the blue wave sweeping over Colorado’s midterm elections three weeks ago includes a harder-left General Assembly in 2023 than we have seen in my memory. Previously, I predicted in these pages what I believed this overwhelmingly Progressive legislature likely would do to an already weakened, besieged, and overburdened criminal justice system trying…
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Jared Polis changes his tune
This is the tale of Colorado’s unmitigated car theft epidemic and how it is addressed by two politicians: mid-term Gov. Jared Polis and election-year candidate Polis. In 2019, despite property and violent crime rates that had been on the upward march for much of the past decade and a crime rating in the bottom half…
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In sizing up our DAs, numbers don’t lie
Transparency in government is an absolute prerequisite to accountability, especially for prosecutors, who wield unmatched discretionary powers during Colorado’s undeniable crime tsunami. Last week, a handful of district attorneys’ offices took a first, well-intentioned, albeit inconsistent baby step toward that transparency. Colorado’s monopoly on state prosecutorial power is divided among 22 judicial districts. Each of…
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Dangerous felons can have guns — thanks partly to our AG
Convicted drug dealers and aggravated motor vehicle thieves can possess guns under Colorado law thanks, in part, to the support of Attorney General Phil Weiser. Last week, during an attorney general candidate forum in Aurora, Weiser misled his audience about his involvement in rearming convicted felons and his ongoing support for it. During the forum,…
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BRAUCHLER | How many car thefts is Weiser cool with?
Last week, during July’s National Vehicle Theft Prevention Month, The Gazette’s Julia Cardi explored the possible answers to the undeniable spike in Colorado’s rate of car thefts. We live in the car theft capital of the United States. Those in power during this public safety disaster are quick to blame countless factors, none of which…