2016 Colorado Revised Statutes
Title 18 - Criminal Code
Article 1.3 - Sentencing in Criminal Cases
Part 6 - Restitution
§ 18-1.3-601. Legislative declaration

(1) The general assembly finds and declares that:

(a) Crime victims endure undue suffering and hardship resulting from physical injury, emotional and psychological injury, or loss of property;

(b) Persons found guilty of causing such suffering and hardship should be under a moral and legal obligation to make full restitution to those harmed by their misconduct;

(c) The payment of restitution by criminal offenders to their victims is a mechanism for the rehabilitation of offenders;

(d) Restitution is recognized as a deterrent to future criminality;

(e) An effective criminal justice system requires timely restitution to victims of crime and to members of the immediate families of such victims in order to lessen the financial burdens inflicted upon them, to compensate them for their suffering and hardship, and to preserve the individual dignity of victims;

(f) Former procedures for restitution assessment, collection, and distribution have proven to be inadequate and inconsistent from case to case;

(g) The purposes of this part 6 are to facilitate:

(I) The establishment of programs and procedures to provide for and collect full restitution for victims of crime in the most expeditious manner; and

(II) The effective and timely assessment, collection, and distribution of restitution requires the cooperation and collaboration of all criminal justice agencies and departments.

(2) It is the intent of the general assembly that restitution be ordered, collected, and disbursed to the victims of crime and their immediate families. Such restitution will aid the offender in reintegration as a productive member of society. This part 6 shall be liberally construed to accomplish all such purposes.