Because of a 2023 law that protects the privacy of juveniles, the Colorado Judicial Department plans to limit attorneys’ access to criminal court records and clerks may take longer to process document requests from journalists and the public.
Senate Bill 23-075 requires the deletion of names and identifying information of child victims and witnesses from criminal justice records before they are released, but the courts “do not have any way of identifying affected records without word-for-word review of each document to flag and redact the newly protected information,” says a recent judicial branch memo.
While the new policy could impact timely news reporting, Boulder lawyer Janene McCabe called it “a massive sledgehammer approach” that will impede the ability of defense attorneys to adequately represent their clients. McCabe, who is president of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, told CFOIC defense attorneys rely on quick and easy access to criminal records for multiple reasons such as reviewing their clients’ past cases and the cases of any co-defendants.