Bail, jail reforms promise relief for Colorado’s poorest
"The bill also would require the districts to develop new criteria to allow more defendants to be released immediately, with no monetary conditions. That bill will be heard by a Senate committee next week."
"The ACLU and others say that one problem with the original bill was its reliance upon risk assessment tools, which have been found by the University of Northern Colorado to be biased. A landmark ProPublica investigation also found bias across the country. Such assessments take into account factors such as age of first arrest, data that skews results to disproportionately assess people of color as high risks to reoffend. More than two dozen Colorado counties presently use risk assessment equations."
"One of the bill’s sponsors, Democratic Rep. Leslie Herod, said she heard and understood the complaints. The measure has since been amended to call for the development of a new and theoretically improved risk assessment tool."
“I agree with the concern,” Herod said. “So the University of Northern Colorado is creating a new tool that is going to be evaluated for bias.”
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