Denver Nears Record Homicides For Second Consecutive Year

During the 1990s and the early 2000s, Denver was something of a peaceful oasis at the base of the Rocky Mountains. Not anymore. Since 2014 the total number of murders, rapes, aggravated assaults, and car thefts has increased by more than 50% and the explosion in crime shows no signs of abating. In 2021 alone, 96 people were murdered in Denver - the highest homicide rate since 1981.

The ripple effects from this spike in crime reverberate throughout Denver County, Golden, Lakewood, and beyond and there is more than a little evidence to suggest the crime wave can trace its origins to bail reform efforts that are releasing countless serial offenders back onto the streets with little regard for public safety.

Cause and Effect

Colorado’s on-again, off-again (mostly on-again) flirtation with bail reform began in earnest in 2013 when Governor John Hickenlooper signed into law HB 13-1236, which was the first real attempt to undermine the bail bond agent and the Colorado bail bonding system in general. It substantially altered the amount of discretion judges could exercise when it came to assigning bail.

Subsequent bills have further eroded the integrity of the bail system and the bail bond company and, no surprise, beginning in 2014 murders in the state began to tick up. From 2013 to 2021, murders increased by nearly 40%, with a 50% increase in forcible rape and a 40% increase in aggravated assault. Annual auto theft rose from 12,000 in 2013 to more than 22,000 in 2021 - an increase of more than 80% in just eight years.

That’s a high price for the citizens of Colorado to pay every day - just so that a handful of self-serving politicians can score political points with anti-bail zealots. Law enforcement has been vocal in assigning the blame where it belongs but their calls to roll back catch-and-release policies have fallen on deaf ears.

More Dangerous Homes

In 2021, 20 people were killed in domestic violence incidents in Denver County and 91 died statewide. That's an appalling number that doubled in just three years. In some cases, children have been left orphaned as one parent was murdered by the other, who then took his own life. The problem of domestic violence is not new and will not be solved solely by reinstituting 24-hour bail in Colorado.

But domestic abuse experts across the country are now warning that catch-and-release programs are placing abused partners at an elevated risk of violence. Many are also being intimidated into silence because they know that, even if they call the police, there is now a good chance the abuser will be back in their face in short order.

To complicate matters even more recent lockdowns often forced abused spouses and partners to spend vast amounts of time locked in their homes with their abusers, with devastating consequences. Staff members at SafeHouse Domestic Violence Services in Denver reported elevated levels of domestic abuse during lockdowns that have not abated to any significant degree now that most restrictions have been lifted.

The Scourge of Pretrial Release

In nearly half of the 96 murders that occurred in Denver in 2021, the perpetrator was either on probation, on parole, or was on pretrial release awaiting a court appearance on another charge. Political leaders don’t want to hear that as many of them have made their reputations being staunch opponents of the bail bond agent. When faced with such facts they try and shift the focus to guns, and off of the fact that many of the people using the guns are on pretrial release.

But while well-meaning people should be having informed discussions about how to handle the growing plague of illegal firearms flooding our cities, the issue of creating serial offenders through the mechanism of pretrial release goes beyond guns to the heart of the justice system. That system, after all, is supposed to protect the law-abiding as well as ensure the accused are treated fairly. Bail reform, however, has tipped the scale firmly in the direction of the perpetrator, and we're all worse off for it.

Denver police chief Paul Pazen expressed the exasperation and frustration many Coloradans are feeling in the wake of rising crime and more lenient treatment of alleged offenders. As Pazen put it, “If we have more than 30 individuals that are continuing criminal behavior — including homicide — and they are on some form of supervision, then what is happening?” He then added: “We as a state need to figure out what’s working and what’s not working”. Indeed. We can tell you what’s not working, bail reform.

Final Thoughts From Our Denver Bail Bondsmen

The one bit of good news is that some states have responded to public outrage and begun rolling back their pro-crime bail reform laws. New York is probably the most visible example.

After eliminating most cash bail on January 1^st, 2020 crime in New York went through the roof. It got to the point that even the newly elected mayor stated that he was afraid to ride the New York City subway. And it turns out his fears were well-grounded.

In one 2022 incident, a man on the subway assaulted a 57-year-old woman with a hammer putting her in critical condition. In another incident, a man who had just been released following a different assault was arrested for smearing his own feces into the face of a woman on the subway who had refused his advances. These incidents, along with Colorado's crime surge, represent the reality of bail reform.