C. R. S. (Colorado Revised Statutes)

     This page contains the actual wording of statutes and portions thereof as a courtesy and resource for the Fort Lewis College campus community. Interpretation thereof is a matter for the judicial branch of the government, with the actual wording being a function of the legislative branch who writes and passes these statutes. As may be expected due to the presence of lawyers within this system, some may find the wording or understanding of these statutes to be somewhat cryptic. Certain pertinent portions of some statutes will be highlighted in red, as police officers routinely refer to these specific portions to establish probable cause for arrest. When necessary for understanding of the statute, legislatively defined definitions of certain words or phrases will be included where possible. Remember, these charges go into COUNTY court, as opposed to municipal court, and are generally considered to be more serious, even though punishments/sentences may sometimes be the same or less than municipal court. These laws are enacted by the legislature of the state of Colorado, not by the congress of the United States of America, but this does not mean that the United States cannot or will not accept jurisdiction if/when federal laws are violated within the state of Colorado.

Please refer to the sidebar on the left of this page for a list and links to available statutes.

There are three "levels" for criminal charges in Colorado: Petty, Misdemeanor, & Felony. There are six classes of Felony, three classes of Misdemeanor, and two classes of Petty offenses. The lower the class, the more serious the offense, e.g. a class two felony is more serious than a class five felony. The most common types of crimes at Fort Lewis College fall into the Misdemeanor category.

Felony	Minimum Sentence	Maximum Sentence
Class 1	Life imprisonment	Death
Class 2	8 years / 5,000 dollar fine	24 years / 1,000,000 dollar fine
Class 3	4 years / 3,000 dollar fine	12 years / 750,000 dollar fine
Class 4	2 years / 2,000 dollar fine	6 years / 500,000 dollar fine
Class 5	1 year / 1,000 dollar fine	3 years / 100,000 dollar fine
Class 6	1 year / 1, 000 dollar fine	18 months / 100,000 dollar fine
Misdemeanor
Class 1	6 months / 500 dollar fine or both	18 months / 5,000 dollar fine or both
Class 2	3 months / 250 dollar fine or both	1 year / 1,000 dollar fine or both
Class 3	Fifty dollar fine	6 months / 750 dollar fine or both
Petty Offenses
Class 1		6 months / 500 dollars or both
Class 2		Specified in section defining the offense