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Matthew Durkin has served as a prosecutor in Jefferson and Gilpin counties for more than 20 years, and he spent several years as the head of the criminal justice section at the Colorado Attorney General’s Office.

Durkin, a Republican, is extremely qualified to now step into the role as district attorney in the 1st Judicial District. We urge voters to support him and his vision for the office.

And Durkin’s vision is not simply continuing the status quo. He told The Denver Post editorial board that he intends to pursue some of the changes that many pushing for reform of the criminal justice system also support at this critical juncture in history.

“What we need to do is really take another look at how we are supervising criminal defendants once they are in the system, and we need to address those drug addiction issues and mental health issues while we have an opportunity,” Durkin said. “What I would seek to propose is to broaden our diversion program, or at least learn from our diversion program, which was founded in the Jefferson, Gilpin counties DA’s office, I believe, in the early 1980s.”

For those who are unfamiliar with criminal justice lingo, a diversion program, also known as deferred sentencing, is one where suspects in lowerlevel criminal offenses can avoid not only jail time but an official record of their crime if they take responsibility for their actions and agree to a period of supervision. Durkin said that there is an over 70% success rate in their diversion program, meaning that suspects complete their supervision and have the incident wiped from their record. Comparatively, Durkin said that successful completion of drug treatment programs or probation programs is less than 20%.

We’re not surprised that people would be highly motivated by a secondchance at a clean slate. It’s a model, particularly in juvenile justice cases, that we wholly endorse. We’re glad to see Durkin’s commitment to extending the program in his office but also working with courts, probation, defense, business leaders and faith- based leaders, to try to incorporate the strengths of the diversion program into their work.

We are also encouraged by his willingness to seek out data that doesn’t currently exist with regard to racial bias in prosecutions in the 1st Judicial District. It’s astounding that, that data doesn’t exist, and Durkin pledged to seek it out and use it to drive any needed changes.

Durkin, like his current boss, District Attorney Peter Weir, also has a strong history in criminal justice reform work, including helping to draft legislation like a bill that increases the compensation available to those who were actually innocent of their crimes but spent time in jail for a wrongful conviction. Durkin worked on a bill that required mandatory training annually for all police officers in the state to get their POST certification.

Durkin is facing Alexis King, a Democrat, for the office. Alexis also had worked for 10 years in the district attorney’s office before leaving to become a magistrate judge in Denver. Her work in the field of juvenile justice, advocacy for victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault is particularly strong. There is no question that between the two candidates, King would be the more reform- minded. She also wants to increase the diversion program and said she would do so in part by removing those suspects entirely from the criminal justice system so they don’t bog down the docket. King said that now those individuals must go to court to plead guilty before they begin diversion.

We think both candidates would display excellent prosecutorial judgment.

However, Durkin’s experience as a manager far exceeds King’s work, and that is where the board was swayed.

Durkin oversaw a $ 10 million budget as an assistant Attorney General while supervising a number of employees.

He’ll hit the ground running, and there is much to do. Crime has been on the rise in Colorado for seven years, and much of the metro- area is facing alarming increases in homicides and other violent crimes. Durkin has a good plan to address that issue. When he spoke to us he blamed drug addiction for much of the increase, a sentiment we agree with. We’d encourage him to spend less time on his blog blaming liberals like George Soros for the increase, and instead focus on the real drivers behind this nation- wide problem.