Colorado’s silly seat belt bill
In the book “Go Directly to Jail: The Criminalization of Almost Everything,” author James V. DeLong writes, “When the government criminalizes almost everything, it also trivializes the very concept of criminality.”
Colorado Prison Spending Meltdown
Run Time: 0:10:45 MP3 3/23/06 Should Colorado embark on a massive prison expansion campaign or can the state slow the growth of the prison population through sentencing law changes? Jon Caldara interviews Director of the Justice Policy Initiative Mike Krause. Jon Caldara Justice Policy
Drug War Trumps Port Safety
The top objective of the U.S. Coast Guard’s anti-terrorism strategy is to protect what’s called the “U.S. Maritime Domain,” including American ports.
But it is hard to take seriously the idea that ports are being effectively protected when the Coast Guard spent more tax dollars last year fighting the war on drugs than has been spent in total on port security since Sept. 11, 2001.
“Just Say No!” To federal drug money targeting your kids
So the government can have its war on drugs, Coloradoans have had to suspend miles of skepticism towards the expansion of state power on behalf of Washington D.C.
The latest federal desire is to drug test Colorado school kids in return for federal tax dollars. It is hard to imagine a better opportunity to “just say no” to federal bribes to Colorado in return for doing the federal government’s drug war dirty work.
Colorado Needs Comprehensive Protection for Government Compelled Data
One by-product of advancing technology is the unprecedented ability to collect, analyze, use and store information generated by the day-to-day lives of people. On one hand, this information gathering ability is highly beneficial, creating new efficiencies in, among other things, medicine, credit-granting, shipping and commerce, and even in government.
Colorado’s Prison Spending Meltdown
While lawmakers are deciding how to spend the proceeds from Referendum C, another budgetary crisis is flying under the radar. Simply put, Colorado faces a prison spending meltdown, and as politically unpopular as it may be, it is no longer a question of whether the legislature should take up sentencing law reform, but rather what the scope of those reforms should be.
Prison costs are running out of control
Colorado taxpayers spend around $100 million a year to incarcerate drug offenders in state prisons. So it’s worth asking why any kind of sentencing reform, which could save millions of dollars in prison spending, has been off the table in the budget debates of the last few years.
Got Data? Then Get a Law to Protect It!
One by-product of advancing technology is the unprecedented ability of government to track and monitor the lives its citizenry.
The Colorado Legislature should consider a comprehensive data protection law that controls how government data are collected, created, stored, used and released by state and local agencies, while at the same time recognizing that Coloradoans are free citizens, not subjects who exist to fill databases with the details of their lives.
When Policies Go to Pot: Colorado Should Take Back Control of Intra-state Drug War Priorities
Like other American states, Colorado has long been dependent on federal assistance in carrying out illicit drug control policies. And as with most federal assistance to the states, federal tax dollars are accompanied by federal influence on local practices and priorities.
Wasted Resources Running High
Last year saw a new record for marijuana arrests in the United States. It’s worth asking if the Colorado Legislature should take a look at Colorado’s part in what amounts to a stunning misappropriation of criminal justice resources.
WHEN POLICY GOES TO POT: Its time to change Colorados strategy in the war on drugs
If President Bush gets his 2006 national drug control budget, Colorado will lose millions of dollars in federal funding for local drug enforcement. But rather than a crisis, the loss of federal drug war dollars would be a unique opportunity for Colorado to gets its own statewide drug control priorities in order.
Who Will Defend Property Rights in Colorado?
In June of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the U.S. Constitution allows local governments to seize private property to make way for private development that might create new jobs or increase tax revenues. Now nobody’s home or business is safe from either greedy government, or moneyed special interests looking for sweetheart deals backed by government muscle.
