Some time in prison should be the consequence of rape.

Austin Wilkerson only served about a year in a Boulder County jail work release program for sexually assaulting a University of Colorado student at a party in Boulder in 2014.

We share in his victim’s disgust and “utter rage” that Wilkerson walked free last Saturday, a year earlier than his original sentence called for. And we hope lawmakers will finally use this case as a rallying cry to reform Colorado’s Lifetime Supervision Act.

Under that law, sex offenders who are sentenced to prison remain incarcerated until they can demonstrate they are rehabilitated through a variety of metrics. But the program has been underfunded and understaffed, meaning that some offenders have spent years in prison waiting to begin treatment and sometimes years beyond the original length of their sentence.

In Wilkerson’s sentencing hearing, the judge expressed concern about how Wilkerson would be treated in prison, and other judges have expressed concern about sending a sex offender to a broken treatment and release system.

There’s been a trend in Boulder County of convicted sex offenders getting out of prison sentences.

There is Curtis Hilty, a real estate agent from Broomfield, who was sentenced to 30 days in jail for raping his children’s babysitter. And former Air Force cadet Daniel Ryerson, who was sentenced to six months in jail after being convicted of sexually assaulting a friend he went to a party with.

We are reminded that sometimes even those lenient sentences are reduced further by credit for good time. Under Colorado law, according to the Daily Camera’s Mitchell Byars, who has done excellent reporting on this issue, inmates in work or school release programs “shall receive one day credit against their sentences for each day spent in such programs.”

It’s hard to see how the time Wilkerson served represents justice, especially for a victim who persevered misdirected blame to ensure that her assailant was convicted.

Yes, these men will all serve extended time on sex offender probation and register as sex offenders. Both of those harsh penalties upend a person’s life and have serious consequences.

But at least some time in prison should be the consequence of rape — regardless of a person’s professional record or a lack of criminal record or hope for the future. A Class 3 felony comes with a sentencing range of four to 12 years in prison. Wilkerson served time in a low-security program where he was able to leave for school or work.

Fortunately, a handful of Colorado lawmakers are spending their summer working on the Sentencing in the Criminal Justice System Interim Study Committee. This fall the committee will recommend legislation to be considered when session begins in January.

On Wednesday the committee heard from the National Conference of State Legislatures about how various states handle their sentencing in their statutes. Pursuing criminal justice requires a balancing act of punishment and reform, deterrence and treatment. The committee is in a good place to try and bring balance to Colorado’s laws regarding sentencing for sex offenders, and we hope they take on the challenge.

A good place to begin would be the question of whether the judge’s sentences for Wilkerson, Hilty and Ryerson were just and fair. And then find a way that judges can send sex offenders to prison for an appropriate length of time. The members of The Denver Post’s editorial board are William Dean Singleton, chairman; Mac Tully, CEO and publisher; Chuck Plunkett, editor of the editorial pages; Megan Schrader, editorial writer; and Cohen Peart, opinion editor.