Demographics Of Domestic Violence In Colorado — 2007

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The fiscal year 2007 statistics for the Colorado courts for domestic violence charges, with associated mandatory restraining orders, are given in their Table 30, with a total of 13,874, with an additional 3,456 cases of protection order violations. Civil restraining orders are tabulated in their Table 29, totaling 13,261 (6.687 of these orders are for domestic abuse), for a combined total of 30,591. That total is virtually unchanged from the previous year while the sampled population increased 2%.

The tables for domestic violence and restraining orders from which the data presented below are drawn is compiled by the State Court Administrator's Office and are available from the Colorado State Court web site. The data are combined and presented here in Table 55 together with the population-normalized values for each judicial district.

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A general decline in the numbers of restraining orders begun in 2003 continued in 2007 with the statewide average dropping from the 2003 high of 78 per 10,000 citizens to 72 per 10,000 in 2007. And in 2007 only six of the twenty-two judicial districts exceeded the average by more than one standard deviation.

In 2007 the Third, Seventh, Tenth, Twelfth, Sixteenth, and Twenty second judicial districts now embarrass the state with 120, 133, 117, 108, 137, and 154 domestic violence and protection order cases per 10,000 citizens respectively (Table 55). May god have pity on children and families in these draconian courts.

If restraining orders are being issued at the same ratio of 72 per 10,000 individuals in the entire United States as in Colorado, there are approximately 2.2 million such orders being issued every year. That continues to be a frightening number.

In 2006 there was a major upheaval in the Colorado justice system. 17 of 22 district attorneys were term limited and replaced in January 2006, halfway through the fiscal year covered by Table 55. The impact of the changing of the prosecutorial guard was fully implemented in the 2007 fiscal year. Evident trends include:

• The number of restraining orders issued in the tiny 22 ^nd Judicial District (Dolores and Montezuma counties) has tripled since 1998, from 54 per 10,000 to 154 in 2007. Since the trend has been continuous for nine years that does not appear to be a statistical fluke. The jump in 2006 to 132 per 10,000 citizens from 90 the previous year, and to an incredible 154 per 10,000 citizens in 2007, reflects the policies of the draconian new district attorney.

• Out-of-control charges of domestic violence and abuse appear to only be getting worse in the 7 ^th Judicial District, rising to 133 per 10,000 in 2007.

• The 4 ^th Judicial District, long a leader in tyranny, now seems to be moderating its practices under the new district attorney.

Percent of restraining orders versus percent of population in 2007

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A simple test of equity is the percentage of restraining orders issued in a judicial district versus the percentage of the population residing in that district. If uniform standards were being applied the percent of population would roughly equal the percent of restraining orders issued in that district and the larger the population of a judicial district the closer the two values should match.

Allowing for differences in the populations of the judicial districts we still find in Table 55 that again in 2007 the Fourth Judicial District has issued an exceptionally high number of restraining orders (19.6% of total) relative to its percentage of the state population (14.3%) sampled. That is especially notable inasmuch as the Fourth has the second largest population of Colorado's judicial districts, 609,096 citizens in 2007.

The Tenth Judicial District is only mid-size (population 154, 538 in 2007) but issues 5.9% of all protection order and domestic violence cases with only 3.6% of the sampled population (Table 55). Similarly, the Seventh issues 4.2% of orders with just 2.3% of the population.

Although small districts, the Sixteenth issues 1.4% of orders, but has only 0.7% of Colorado's population. And the Twenty second issues 1.4% of such orders with just 0.6% of the population.

These five judicial districts fail this simple test of equity.

Comparison of domestic violence and abuse with other misdemeanors in 2007

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Table 56 is a continuing attempt, for ten years now, to see where and whether protection orders and domestic violence correlate with other societal problems. The implicit assumption in Table 56, as in previous years, is that domestic violence is associated with other problems such as alcoholism, drug use, etc., in a judicial district. For example, underage alcohol abuse and drug use would be associated with abusive or broken homes, and that Joe Six Pack likely gets into other kinds of trouble, e.g., bar brawls, for which he is arrested as well.

However, if all other categories of similar crimes are at or below the state averages except domestic violence, it suggests a witch hunt is being conducted for that specific offense. Such actions by law enforcement officials and the courts are generally regarded as an abuse of process and a violation of the equal protection clauses of the state and federal constitutions.

For 2007 in Table 56 a relationship between domestic violence and abuse and other misdemeanors is discernible in the Fifth, Twelfth, Sixteenth, and Twenty-First Judicial Districts. The Third and Sixteenth judicial districts are depressed rural areas with populations of 24,000 and 31,000 residents, respectively. While the Fifth includes such swank resorts as Vail and Breckenridge, many of the workforce are illegal aliens and wages are generally depressed. Also, the district attorney has a tendency to make headlines for himself, e.g., the Kobe Bryant case.

These relationships are examined over a period of nine years in Table 66.

Perjury prosecutions

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As has been true in previous years Colorado courts again failed to aggressively prosecute perjury. Table 30 from the state court administrator only shows 19 cases of perjury in 2007, which is up from the 2 cases prosecuted in 2006. In our experience the only time perjury is prosecuted at all is if the person admits it but the district attorneys in the First and Tenth judicial districts took a little harder look at this pervasive problem in 2007 with 6 and 9 cases respectively.

Subornation of perjury is not a criminal offense in Colorado and in People v. Turner 04 SA 178 the state supreme court ruled that a defendant in a criminal domestic violence case had no right to obtain documentation of what was probably subornation of perjury against him.

The rule of law cannot long endure if perjury continues to be tolerated and subornation of perjury is condoned, protected, and encouraged.

Protection order violations

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Beginning in 2005 the state court reported protection order violations separately. Table 30 shows 3,456 total cases of restraining order violations compared with 17,330 domestic violence cases and 6,687 domestic abuse protection orders (Table 55). Since it is quite unlikely that all protection order violations are prosecuted, roughly 20% of all protection orders were probably violated in 2007 and the court records show 14% of restraining orders were violated.

Elsewhere we have pointed out that increasing prosecution of protection order violations has been shown to increase the risk of homicide.

One might question the value and protection provided by court orders that increase one's danger and are so routinely violated.

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Last modified 10/14/22