"It appeared to me to be the right process to put in place" to serve the interest of justice, Ritter said Wednesday. "There's a body of evidence that shows kids are very different than adults."
The panel evolved, Ritter acknowledged, out of discussions among lawmakers, the district attorneys' lobbying council and the Pendulum Foundation youth-advocacy group. Its goal is to find a middle ground for giving juveniles a shot at relief. It could be up and running by the end of the year.
State Rep. Cheri Jahn, a Wheat Ridge Democrat, helped develop the concept with Ritter. She characterized the advisory board as a cease-fire of sorts between state prosecutors and lawmakers who decided to back off a potentially bitter battle to eradicate life-without- parole sentences for at least 45 current juvenile offenders.
In 2006, Jahn and then-state Rep. Lynn Hefley, R-Colorado Springs, got just such a state law passed and signed into law by then-Gov. Bill Owens. It barred such sentences for future offenders. But the state's district attorneys successfully fought off their effort to grant such relief to current convicts.
Jahn said the clemency board "is a big step, and the governor should be applauded for taking it," adding that juveniles' premature brain development warrants special attention. "It's important that we have juvenile experts involved. This is a governor who, unlike some DAs, doesn't just see everything as black and white."
Approach wins praise
Ritter said the move helps sidestep issues that could have proven divisive in the legislature.
"There was not nearly the appetite for doing things retroactively," Ritter said, referring to lifting life without parole across the board. "But there were people who still wanted to look at those offenders and try to resolve what they believe were some justice issues. This was a way to do it."
The board, to be chaired by Jeanne Smith, director of the state Division of Criminal Justice and former El Paso County DA, would function separately but similarly to the current clemency board advising the governor, who can pardon, commute or parole convicts.
Among the criteria boosting a juvenile offender's chance for relief: rehabilitative potential, heroic acts and cases involving "sentencing disparities or inequities." A majority of its members must favor a recommendation before it is sent on to the governor for consideration, Ritter said.
Ritter's approach won praise Wednesday from national juvenile advocates.
"I don't know of any state that has retooled its clemency process for juveniles to recognize their rehabilitative potential," said Alison Parker, senior researcher on juvenile issues for New York-based Human Rights Watch. "This is an excellent way to approach the issue. Juveniles are different kinds of human beings with the capacity to grow and change."
Colorado prosecutors, among the few in the country with the discretion to send youths to prison, have done so in more than 1,200 cases since 1998, according to a Denver Post investigation. At least 45 youths are serving life sentences without a shot at parole.
Some killed abusive parents. Others were convicted of felony murder, a charge brought against them even though their actions did not directly cause a death or no proof existed that they intended to kill.
Such extraordinary circumstances, combined with modern scientific research showing juveniles' brains - especially regions that process ethical decisionmaking - are not fully developed, warrant more lenient legal treatment for youths, advocates believe.
For 14 years as Denver DA, Ritter sent more teens to prison for life without parole than any other DA in the state. But defense law experts and lawmakers have praised him as a broad thinker who champions therapeutic solutions for other offenders and who is open to alternatives.
In the early 1990s, he helped lobby for development of the state's Youth Offender System, a rehabilitative arm of the prison system that keeps some teens from being housed in hard-core penitentiaries.
Ritter sees this board as an extension of such earlier efforts recognizing the rehabilitative potential of kids, he said.
"This is a more psychologically balance approach," said Maureen Cain of the Colorado Defense Bar. "We've got to reach a balance in Colorado between retribution and forgiveness. To recognize that kids represent separate issues is very healthy."
Clemency a rarity
Governors rarely grant clemency to violent juvenile offenders. Before he left office, Owens moved up the parole date for Charles Limbrick Jr., who killed his mother when he was 15. Before that, 1987 was the last time a violent offender had won relief when then-Gov. Roy Romer pardoned William Bresnahan for the stabbing deaths of his parents. After his release from prison, Bresna han went on to become a doctor.
The Colorado Springs-based Pendulum Foundation, an advocacy group for youth prisoners, has yet to win executive clemency for a single teen it represents.
"We've had no luck in the past, but we're cautiously optimistic now," said Pendulum director Mary Ellen Johnson.
Don Quick, president of the Colorado DA Council, said prosecutors could find no fault with Ritter's plan.
"I certainly don't have any objection to this," said Quick, the Adams County DA. "If there's anyone who knows the justice system, it's Bill Ritter."
But Quick said the state's prosecutors have faced a bad rap for their perceived harsh treatment of juveniles. For example, in 2006, he sent only half the juveniles he prosecuted into the Department of Corrections, and the vast majority were housed in the Youth Offender System.
Ritter, meanwhile, said he sees the clemency board as a way to tackle the unique circumstances surrounding juveniles in a broader way than simply adjusting sentences.
"Some of the ideas people kept introducing to address the issue would only focus on a very small part of the issue," the governor said. "And Jeanne's a very capable and bright person to chair this effort. She understands justice system issues."
