Nothing torches a satisfying chimera like a heavy dose of reality.
Far-right Republicans on the Aurora City Council — at least those remaining after local voters last month showed four of them the door — are having their “tough-on-crime” fantasies crushed.
The Colorado Supreme Court last week put the kibosh on Aurora’s off-with-their-heads shtick, beefing up jail time for shoplifting and being homeless in public.
In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that Aurora and other daydreaming cities can’t create harsher punishments for crimes than are imposed by the state.
For the past couple of years, Aurora lawmakers have been ramrodding “rot-in-jail” laws with mandatory minimum sentences, which proponents were just positive would essentially end shoplifting in Aurora.
The state’s high court reminded Aurora that, yeah, the law has never worked that way in Colorado, or any other state. The justices never even bothered trotting out the Constitution thing that makes clear that, in this country, the government can’t punish some people more harshly than others for committing the same crime.
It’s so inconvenient for racists and extremists, but, hey, that’s what America has worked to rise above for generations.
The crux of all this, however, is the Republican delusion that if you punish people mercilessly for committing any crime, no matter how severe or slight, people will no longer commit any crimes for fear of the wrath of the Aurora City Council.
Science, research and reality, however, have for generations proven that to be bunk.
The mythology begins and perpetuates for all kinds of reasons.
For those of you who believe that your blood is actually blue until it is exposed to the air, sorry, there are no blue-blooded humans. It’s all various colors of red. It looks blue in your veins because your skin and flesh absorb the spectrum of light to make it look blue to your eyes. No? Ask your doctor.
And blind-as-a-bat bats? Nope. They see really well.
Divining rods really don’t work. Really, really.
And Aurora’s “go-directly-to-jail” mandate has not reduced the incidence of shoplifting here in the third-largest city in Colorado.
That’s true.
Oh sure. True-believer, far-right conservatives on the city council, and those recently given the boot or cold shoulder, say it works. They point to recent data, which is accurate, showing that in the last two years or so, there are fewer reports of shoplifting and recorded arrests.
Substantially fewer, according to recent reporting by the Sentinel and other metro media.
Proponents of the “lock-em-up” laws on the city council dais and at ward meetings have been patting themselves on the back, wrongly taking credit for the drop in shoplifting reports.
What they didn’t say is that shoplifting rates everywhere in the metro area, and across the state, dropped at almost identical rates, at the same time, as did those in Aurora.
So, Aurora’s get-tough tactics were so effective and scary that they stopped shoplifters from stealing Advil in Walgreens in Littleton and Durango?
No. It’s a classic case of confusing and conflating “causative effect” with “correlation.”
Real science, which is what should guide government policy, makes it clear that the threat of harsh punishment has little or no effect on whether someone will pilfer a candy bar or murder their neighbor.
States with the highest violent crime rates for 2024 include Alaska, New Mexico, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri, five of which are run by “tough-on-crime” Republicans with prison sentences to match.
I get why people who believe in “spare the rod and spoil the child” are so enamored with the whole “badder is better” myth.
It mirrors a philosophy that aligns with a fictional ideal, which really doesn’t exist, that’s based, essentially, on the Judeo-Christian idea that we all stay in our lane for fear of going to Hell, not because it’s just the right thing to do.
In reality, what keeps humans doing the right thing rather than the wrong thing is the fear of being caught.
How many of us, including me, cruise I-225 and I-25 at 70-ish mph these days because there’s never a cop around anymore to give us tickets?
Research has shown time and again that when people think they might be immediately busted for theft, speeding and even murder, they don’t do the crime.
Far more effective than “go directly to jail” threats from the Aurora City Council would be hiring enough police to patrol the streets and even the stores, malls and shopping centers to make it clear that their crime won’t pay — right now.
No doubt, that’s expensive. But so has been Aurora’s jail-mate policy. It costs about $250 a day to keep someone in a local city or county jail. That means a 30-day-minimum jail sentence for one person who stole $300 worth of something from a store costs local taxpayers $7,500.
With Aurora bragging about giving jail time to hundreds of shoplifters each year, you can do the math.
Taxpayers in Engelwood, Thornton and Lakewood saw their shoplifting rates go down just the same as they did in Aurora and didn’t have to shell out millions in jail expenses at all.
It doesn’t mean people shouldn’t be punished for their crimes, or put away to keep the community safe. But jail is not crime prevention.
Wishing something were true just doesn’t make it so.
Toilets swirl and flush the same Down Under as they do downstairs at Aurora City Hall. Carrots don’t improve your eyesight, and bees don’t defy the laws of physics.
Rather than run the government on debunked hunches and dreams, city and state lawmakers in 2026 need to lean into science and reality. It really works.
Follow @EditorDavePerry on BlueSky, Threads, Mastodon, Twitter and Facebook or reach him at 303-750-7555 or dperry@SentinelColorado.com
Yeah, yeah, yeah. According to “the left,” prisons don’t work, punishment doesn’t work and “tough on crime policies don’t work. On top of that, they say they are racist. I guess this is why “left wing” run cities like Portland and Chicago are functioning so safe and well.
The greatest fear of the left is that their assertions will be proven wrong. I believe this, in part, is why the Colorado Supreme Court shut down Aurora’s tough on crime policies – they were afraid Aurora would see a drastic drop in crime and other cities will begin copying them. I suspect they will go after Aurora’s “work first” policy on homeless next, as they are afraid it will be more successful than the “housing first” policy. Democrats are always trying to cover up the consequences of their policies. They take a study or bit of biased psuedo-research and misrepresent or incorrectly apply its meaning to support their left-wing ideology. Take their brilliant “defund the police” push. Anyone with a brain bigger than a walnut would realize how this would turn out. But no, left-wing Democrats had to act like immature adolescents who cannot learn from their parents, but have to try everything out for themselves and learn the hard way. Only after destroying their communities do they finally come to their senses, sometimes.
“why the Colorado Supreme Court shut down Aurora’s tough on crime policies – they were afraid Aurora would see a drastic drop in crime and other cities will begin copying them” is officially the most ridiculous comment I’ve seen anywhere today. You DO realize how utterly ridiculous that statement is, right?
The Court shut down the policies based upon a legal argument that involves a consistent approach by all entities that does not allow punishments to be unfair based upon where you are arrested. It is simply legal consistency. It isn’t that the court is leftist with ideas similar to Dave Perry. It is unfortunate in many regards. Commonsense, a basic understanding of human nature, and crime studies will tell you that it is the certainty of punishment that deters criminals or people contemplating a crime. Aurora was putting some certainty into punishment. The system is full of uncertainty when it comes to punishment. Our legislature has already reduced our law enforcement people through vague and punitive laws. The system allows so many chances to get little or no punishment. Every time a criminal with a long history commits a heinous crime, everyone asks how that person could be out of jail. Duh.
If I tell you that if you smoke that cigarette you may die of cancer some day, it has little effect. If I tell you that you will immediately lose a lung as soon as you smoke that first cigarette, most people will hesitate. Have you noticed how many expired license plates there are on the road now? Do you think maybe that has something to do with the uncertainty of getting caught after we slashed the number of officers and showed that we do not support them stopping anyone who might run or resist.
The hysteria on the left over punishing people drives our legislature to extremes. Both the left and the right must go to extremes to get back at each other. What we need is a simply consistent and realistic approach to crime.
Quit with the hysteria and do something that helps reduce crime for everyone.
When Dave Perry talks facts and evidence from studies, I cringe. I have pointed out his repeated untrue statements many times and he never corrects them. I am not talking about simple exaggerations. I am talking about outright lies that are easily shown. Luckily, like most of our officials, he never has to stand in front of an audience and be questioned. But, today, both sides never answer anyway. That is why nothing gets fixed. When they say lessons learned, I always laugh. We aren’t learning any lessons.
You are clearly jealous and envious of Dave’s megaphone. This is what seems to be your major issue. In your posts you meander and miss the point until we are graciously met with the end of your comments which is where you make your decisive thoughts known. It’s mostly just your opinion. You use this forum to bleat and repeat while failing to educate readers. I would very much love to see you run for office since you have so many answers to fix Aurora’s problems. Put your opinions on the table for Aurora to see and decide?
You are extremely long on talk and short on data or facts or statistics or reports or anything that matters in a good discussion. I always laugh.
I suppose this isn’t your opinion. I, at least, have some real life experience when it comes to crime and punishment.
Dave! Why are you not listening to don ‘the expert in all things’ black and refusing to correct your “untrue statements”?!! Don’t you realize he’s pointed out your repeated untrue statements many times?! Thank you, don. What would the Sentinel and Aurora do without you, and your vast wealth of expertise?
Is that why your side has turned Aurora Public Schools into a complete joke in the last generation? You are the same morons who voted to get rid of the Gallagher Amendment and then were surprised when your property taxes went up, after all.
I probably won’t tell you how to fix your car, cook a good meal, repair your camera, or how to succeed in business. If you don’t want to hear anything from people who might know something about a subject, then just read Dave Perry’s opinion and let it go. Don’t read anything else. Stay in your bubble. It will be infinitely more comfortable for you. By the way, did you notice that I don’t hide behind some clever moniker or partial name.
This is why the GOP and the right hate science. Actual facts and proof get in the way of their retribution first, last, and always attitude. No one else is allowed to disagree and the scientific method is the ultimate rejection of the conservative white, evangelical, patriarchal biblical-only way of living.
Most of us know better. At least those outside of the right-wing / GOP / conservative cults.
Your side can’t even figure out how to pay off your student loans, and think anyone who doesn’t follow your moronic political theology 100% is a “fascist.” TF you think you’re kidding with that “actual facts and proof” nonsense? Hilarious.
And yes, we already realize your side hates white people, you don’t have to keep confirming it.
Oh. Great editorial.
What a ridiculous article. You people on the left preaching easy on crime policies and social safety nets have destroyed our society and bankrupted our government. Criminals should be harshly punished and removed from civil society. Look at crime in the most liberal cities and states and see the damage these weak policies cause. The demographics are what they are, black people commit a higher percentage of the crimes and are therefore incarcerated at a higher rate than other races. Trying to fix it by releasing convicted criminals early or on reduced sentences is foolish and dangerous to us. Take your social justice garbage somewhere else. The CSC weakened a city with this decision. Shame.