Colorado Justice Review Project II

The Colorado Justice Review Project I (JRP I), Colorados statewide effort to inmates to date, used stringent eligibility criteria such that a large percentage of inmates cases were disqualified without substantive review. For instance, more than 55% of cases have been disqualified under a single disqualifying criterion: the entry of a guilty plea (as opposed to conviction at trial). The Colorado Justice Review Project II (JRP II) will not consider these cases dispositive, but consider them for review. In addition, the JRP II will actively solicit inmate petitions for review from inmates in state prison. The cases of former inmates who are in Community Corrections or on parole will not be reviewed. Inmate-initiated review is in response to the problem in the JRP I where the inmates did not self-select for review but rather, their cases were reviewed because their names appeared on a Department of Corrections (DOC) eligible inmate list. Under the JRP I, most inmates were unaware of any ongoing review of their cases. ca/ncf