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| Chapter 8 — Demographics Of Domestic Violence In Colorado |
| Next— Demographics of domestic violence in Colorado - 2009 |
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The fiscal year 2008 statistics for the Colorado courts for domestic violence charges, with associated mandatory restraining orders, are given in their Table 30, with a total of 17.833, including 4,269 cases of protection orders violations. Civil restraining orders are tabulated in their Table 29, totaling 13,527 (6.967 of these orders are for domestic abuse), for a combined total of 31,360. Domestic violence cases increased 2.9% and restraining orders increased 2.0% while the sampled population increased just 1.6%.
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 57 together with the population-normalized values for each judicial district.
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orders (DA) 1 |
(RO violation) 2 |
total and percent 3 |
per 10,000 4 |
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First 5 |
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Eighth 5 |
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Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande, and Saguache |
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Kit Carson, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, and Yuma |
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Seventeenth 5 |
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Eighteenth 5 |
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County populations: U.S. Census Bureau Restraining orders and divorces: Colorado State Court Tables 17, 29, and 30 |
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1. Prior to fiscal 2002 the courts lumped all civil restraining orders together. Statistics for 2002 and subsequent years separate civil and domestic abuse (DA) orders. For consistency with prior years both the total number and (domestic abuse) restraining orders are given. Again for consistency, the total number of civil restraining orders plus domestic violence cases is used to calculate percentages and per capita values. Where domestic abuse orders exceed 50% the values are shown in (bold). 2. A restraining order is mandated by law C.R.S. § 18-1-1001. Prior to 2005 misdemeanor domestic violence cases were lumped with restraining order violations. As of 2005 restraining order violations are tabulated separately and are shown here in parentheses following the sum of misdemeanor domestic violence cases and violations of protection orders. Restraining order violations are shown in bold if they exceed half the number of domestic abuse orders issued. 3. The percent of restraining orders within a judicial district should equal the percent of the sampled population for that district. Judicial districts where the percent of restraining orders exceeds the percent of the sampled population by more than 0.5% are shown in bold. 4. Divorce includes all dissolutions, legal separations, and invalid marriage and totaled 25,991 in 2008. 5. Municipalities within this judicial district may also issue restraining orders and prosecute misdemeanor domestic violence cases. The state court values given here do not reflect such cases. 6. Statewide average is from the sum of civil and criminal restraining order cases (31,360) divided by the state population (4,937,456) minus Denver City and County (598,707). |
Av —Statewide average 6 |
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A general decline in the numbers of restraining orders begun in 2003 continued in 2008 with the statewide average dropping from the 2003 high of 78 per 10,000 citizens to 72 per 10,000 in 2007 and 2008. In 2008 seven of the twenty-two judicial districts exceeded the average by more than one standard deviation.
In 2008 the Third, Fourth, Seventh, Tenth, Twelfth, Sixteenth, and Twenty second judicial districts now embarrass the state with 155, 101, 129, 110, 118, 115, and 135 domestic violence and protection order cases per 10,000 citizens respectively (Table 57). But in terms of shear numbers of restraining (protection?) orders and domestic violence cases no district even comes close to the tyranny of the Fourth Judicial District. May god have pity on children, veterans, and families in these draconian courts.
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 and current district attorneys for all 22 judicial districts are listed here. The impact of the changing of the prosecutorial guard was fully implemented by the 2008 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 and 135 in 2008. Since the trend has been continuous for eleven years it is not 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. And JIm Wilson's tyranny continued in 2008 with 135 per 10,000.
• 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 and 129 in 2008.
• The 4 th Judicial District, has long been a leader in tyranny. However, it has become harder to press criminal charges of domestic violence and local redfems have switched to a filing a preponderance of civil domestic abuse restraining orders that are issued ex parte at the rate of one a minute by Magistrate Trujillo.
If there were any indication these draconian practices were actually reducing family violence there might be some justification for them. But Table 57 makes it painfully clear that, if anything, these laws and practices have made problems worse. The state average for these cases has remained at 72± per 10,000 citizens for the past nine years and the evidence of abuse of these laws continues to mount.
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 57 that again in 2008 the Fourth Judicial District has issued an exceptionally high number of restraining orders (20.0% of total) relative to its percentage of the state population (14.2%) sampled. That is especially notable inasmuch as the Fourth has the second largest population of Colorado's judicial districts, 617,714 citizens in 2008 and it is particularly appalling to note that the Fourth also has the greatest concentration of active-duty military and veterans within the state. And a soldier or veteran with a domestic violence conviction or permanent restraining order against them is a dead man walking.
The Tenth Judicial District is only mid-size (population 156,737 in 2008) but issues 5.5% of all protection order and domestic violence cases with only 3.6% of the sampled population (Table 57). Similarly, the Seventh issues 4.1% of orders with just 2.3% of the population.
Although small districts, the Third issues 1.2% of restraining orders but has only 0.6% of the sampled population. The Seventh issues 4.1% of such orders with just 2.3% of the population. The Twelfth issues 1.8% of all such orders with just 1.1% of the population. The Sixteenth issues 1.1% of such orders, but has only 0.7% of Colorado's population. And the Twenty second issues 1.2% of such orders with just 0.6% of the population.
These seven judicial districts fail this simple test of equity.
Table 58 is a continuing attempt, for eleven years now, to see where and whether protection orders and domestic violence correlate with other societal problems. The implicit assumption in Table 58, 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.
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Violence 1 |
Persons 2 |
Property 3 |
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First 4 |
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Eighth 4 |
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Kit Carson, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, and Yuma |
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Seventeenth 4 |
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Eighteenth 4 |
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County population estimates: U.S. Census Bureau Misdemeanors: Colorado State Court Table 30 |
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1. Domestic violence includes both domestic violence and protection order violation cases. 2. Offenses against persons includes the crimes of assault, child abuse, forgery, harassment, menacing, and sex offenses. 3. Offenses against property includes the crimes of arson, criminal mischief, and theft. 4. Municipalities within this judicial district may also prosecute misdemeanor domestic violence and other crimes. The state court values given here do not reflect such cases. 5. Values that differ from the state average for a given offense by one standard deviation or more are shown in bold. |
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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 2008 in Table 58 a relationship between domestic violence and abuse and other misdemeanors is obvious in the Twelfth Judicial District and a weak correlation is present in the Third, Seventh, Sixteenth, and Twenty Second Judicial Districts. Conversely, the Ninth, Tenth, and Thirteenth have very high numbers of domestic violence cases that show no correlation with other crimes.
These relationships are examined over a period of ten years in Table 66 but there is little evidence to support a consistent correlation of domestic violence cases with other crimes in most judicial districts.
As has been true in previous years Colorado courts again failed to aggressively prosecute perjury. Table 30 from the state court administrator only shows 20 cases of perjury in 2008, 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 attorney in the Tenth judicial districts took a little harder look at this pervasive problem in 2008 with 13 cases.
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.
Beginning in 2005 the state court reported protection order violations separately. Table 30 shows 4,269 total cases of restraining order violations, up from 3,456 in 2007. There were 13,564 domestic violence cases and 6,967 domestic abuse protection orders (Table 57). Thus, at least 21% of all protection orders were violated in 2008 as it is unlikely that all violations are reported or prosecuted.
Elsewhere we have pointed out that increasing prosecution of protection order violations has been shown to increase the risk of homicide.
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| DV Home | Abstract | Contents | Tables | Index | Bibliography |
| Chapter 8 — Demographics Of Domestic Violence In Colorado |
| Next— Demographics of domestic violence in Colorado - 2009 |
| Back — Demographics of domestic violence in Colorado - 2007 |
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