Colorado’s Competency Law Problem
In Colorado right now, people charged with serious crimes are having their cases dismissed and walking free. Not because they were found innocent, but because they were ruled incompetent to stand trial and unlikely to be restored.
You may have heard about this on the news and thought it sounded too radical to be true. Unfortunately, it is true and it’s playing out in real-time in our communities.
In 2025 alone, roughly 168 competency-related cases were flagged in the system tied to mandatory dismissal decisions. Dozens of those individuals were released without being connected to long-term supervision or care. At the same time, high-profile cases – from a fatal hit-and-run to an attempted kidnapping of a child at a school – have ended the same way: charges dropped, defendant released.
Here’s why.
In 2024, the legislature passed HB24-1034, which fundamentally changed how Colorado handles defendants who are found incompetent. The law now requires courts to dismiss charges in many cases if a person is unlikely to be restored to competency or if strict time limits are reached while they wait for treatment.
Through that legislation, those time limits were shortened significantly for lower-level charges, and even in more serious cases the law forces dismissal once certain thresholds are hit. If there’s no civil hold or secure placement available at that moment, the court has limited options. And even when they are able to obtain a civil hold at a mental health facility, repeated court proceedings limit that detention as well.
In short: the system now prioritizes time limits and clinical determinations over keeping a case open indefinitely, and that has created serious gaps when someone is both dangerous and unable to stand trial. These gaps risk the safety of our community and lawmakers are now trying to address those gaps.
A bill advancing right now down at the State Capitol in Denver, SB26-149, would allow courts to pause dismissal in the most serious cases and give the state a chance to pursue civil commitment or secure placement before a defendant is released. It focuses specifically on individuals accused of violent crimes who are found incompetent and present a substantial risk to others. Much more needs to be done, but this is a start.
The crux of this issue is the intersection of mental health, public safety, and constitutional rights. Colorado’s current law was designed to prevent people from being held indefinitely without trial but the reality is that the system it created is still being worked out in real time and we must be leery of knee-jerk legislation that looks good on paper but has serious unintended consequences.
Although the 2024 bill that created this domino effect was sponsored and heavily pushed by Colorado’s Democrat majority and signed by Governor Jared Polis, there were actually Republicans who voted for it. Just because someone has an R behind their name doesn’t mean they won’t shake hands with Polis on bills like this. We must elect leaders who are willing to stand up to the majority party and keep our communities safe.
The question now is whether lawmakers can close the gaps without creating new ones.
Sources:
https://www.denver7.com/news/investigations/denver-7-investigates-the-complexity-of-competency
https://www.commonsenseinstituteus.org/ResearchUploads/CSI%20Report%20-%20CO%20Restoration%20Backlog%20%282%29.pdf
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb24-1034
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb26-149
