Thrown Away

I. Summary

II. Recommendations

To the Governor of Colorado

To the Colorado Legislature

To Colorado Prosecutors

To Colorado Trial and District Court Judges

To Colorado Defense Attorneys

To the Colorado Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Council

To the Colorado Department of Corrections

III. Background

Trying Children as Adults

Juvenile Crime Rates

Adult Court Prosecution Data

IV. Children Sentenced to Life without Parole in Colorado

Data

Crimes and Life Situations

V. The Difference between Children and Adults

VI. Just Sentencing for Children

VII. Internationally Recognized Human Rights

VIII. A Child’s Life in Colorado’s Adult Prisons

Confinement of Children with Adults

Access to Education and Programming

Violence

Isolation

Coping with the Life without Parole Sentence

IX. Protecting Colorado’s Communities

X. Acknowledgements

February 2005