A legislative push by Democrats to go easier on youth offenders could backfire on Colorado with a higher crime rate. That, say Senate Republicans, is the upshot of numbers compiled by the legislature's nonpartisan research staff.

The statistics from the office of Legislative Council strongly suggest a direct correlation between lower incarceration rates and much higher crime rates, as evidenced by a years-long trend afoot in Colorado. In the face of that evidence--and over the objections of prosecutors--Democrats aim to ease up on juvenile punishment on the premise that they are too young to grasp the gravity of their actions. 

Democrat Sen. Suzanne Williams' Senate Bill 66 would let some teens in felony-murder cases enter the Youth Offender System rather than serve time as adults. Democrat Rep. Claire Levy's House Bill 1208 would let judges second-guess prosecutors on whether to try some teen offenders as adults. Democrat Rep. Cheri Jahn's House Bill 1142 makes it easier to declare a juvenile incompetent to stand trial as an adult.

Republicans say that entire approach is a wrong turn. 

"Many young people who make a mistake may well deserve another chance, but it shouldn't come at the expense of public safety," said Sen. Josh Penry, a Grand Junction Republican who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Democrats on a Senate committee have approved a measure that would allow anyone to register to vote online--a trial balloon that immediately drew fire from the elections chief of the state's largest county.

Sponsored by Senate Democrat leader Ken Gordon, of Denver, Senate Bill 40 would give anyone with a computer the ability to register to vote online with a click of a mouse.  The proposed measure directs the Secretary of State’s Office to create an online form for people to register to vote and require the Secretary of State to match the signatures of citizens that register to a set of databases specified in the bill.

Several people testified against the bill at the committee hearing Wednesday, including the clerk and recorder from El Paso County, Bob Balink, and a representative from the Secretary of State’s office.  Representing the most populous county in Colorado, Balink said he believed the bill would erode the election process by undermining voting security.

“This is simply a bad bill,” Balink said after the hearing.  “There is nothing in this bill that requires verification to determine whether or not a person is legally eligible to vote.”