Proposition 133 would require life without parole for child sex trafficking
Oct 8, 2026 · 9 min · 8 segments
- Speakers
Kim MonsonHost
Oct 8, 2026 · 9 min · 8 segments
Kim MonsonHost
Under the 2024 Colorado revised statutes, human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude is a Class 2 felony, and the court must send a convicted person to the Department of Corrections for at least the minimum of the Class 2 presumptive range.
For offenses committed on or after July 1, 2020, that range runs from 8 to 24 years.
A judge who finds extraordinary aggravating circumstances may impose up to 48 years, twice the maximum.
SB 24-035, signed April 11, 2024, added the offense to the state's list of crimes of violence.
The crime of violence sentence of 16 to 48 years applies only when prosecutors charge it in a separate count and the jury or court finds that the defendant used or threatened to use a deadly weapon or caused serious bodily injury or death.
After prison, the statute sets mandatory parole of five years, when the offense is a crime of violence, and three years, when it is not.
Proposition 133 replaces that sentencing language with life in prison without parole or release.
State law already provides that life imprisonment for a Class 1 felony committed on or after July 1, 1990, shall mean imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The measure's legislative declaration states that current penalties in Colorado law with parole possible in as little as eight years have failed to adequately deter the human trafficking of minor children.
Under current law, the crime covers a person who knowingly sells, recruits, harbors, transports, transfers, isolates, entices, provides, receives, obtains by any means, maintains or makes available a minor for commercial sexual activity, or who knowingly advertises, offers to sell or sells travel services that facilitate it.
The measure adds trading anything of monetary value as a third way to commit the crime.
The ballot information booklet, known as the Blue Book and prepared by legislative council staff, says that if convicted of this crime, buyers and sellers will receive a life sentence.
Because the measure leaves the rest of the statute in place, a minor's consent and a defendant's belief that the minor was 18 or older are still not defenses, and a person who was a trafficking victim forced or coerced into the crime keeps an affirmative defense.
A new subsection provides that nothing in this section shall limit a governor's standing authority of pardon, commutation, or clemency.
The measure takes effect January 1, 2027, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.
Under the 2024 Colorado revised statutes, human trafficking of a minor for sexual servitude is a Class 2 felony, and the court must send a convicted person to the Department of Corrections for at least the minimum of the Class 2 presumptive range.
For offenses committed on or after July 1, 2020, that range runs from 8 to 24 years.
A judge who finds extraordinary aggravating circumstances may impose up to 48 years, twice the maximum.
SB 24-035, signed April 11, 2024, added the offense to the state's list of crimes of violence.
The crime of violence sentence of 16 to 48 years applies only when prosecutors charge it in a separate count and the jury or court finds that the defendant used or threatened to use a deadly weapon or caused serious bodily injury or death.
After prison, the statute sets mandatory parole of five years, when the offense is a crime of violence, and three years, when it is not.
Proposition 133 replaces that sentencing language with life in prison without parole or release.
State law already provides that life imprisonment for a Class 1 felony committed on or after July 1, 1990, shall mean imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The measure's legislative declaration states that current penalties in Colorado law with parole possible in as little as eight years have failed to adequately deter the human trafficking of minor children.
Under current law, the crime covers a person who knowingly sells, recruits, harbors, transports, transfers, isolates, entices, provides, receives, obtains by any means, maintains or makes available a minor for commercial sexual activity, or who knowingly advertises, offers to sell or sells travel services that facilitate it.
The measure adds trading anything of monetary value as a third way to commit the crime.
The ballot information booklet, known as the Blue Book and prepared by legislative council staff, says that if convicted of this crime, buyers and sellers will receive a life sentence.
Because the measure leaves the rest of the statute in place, a minor's consent and a defendant's belief that the minor was 18 or older are still not defenses, and a person who was a trafficking victim forced or coerced into the crime keeps an affirmative defense.
A new subsection provides that nothing in this section shall limit a governor's standing authority of pardon, commutation, or clemency.
The measure takes effect January 1, 2027, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.
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