Colorado’s second-highest court determined last month that an Arapahoe County judge, prosecutors and corrections officials could ignore the deadlines in state law and still have the ability to send a youthful offender to prison.
The state’s Youthful Offender System allows defendants who were at least 18 at the time of their criminal offense but younger than 21 at sentencing to serve time at a rehabilitative facility in Pueblo, instead of a traditional prison. However, the law allows defendants to be “returned” to the trial court and potentially receive prison time if they cannot complete the terms of their YOS sentence.


