John Scarffe, Gilpin County. Matthew Durkin, Republican candidate for district attorney in the Colorado First Judicial District covering Jefferson and Gilpin counties, said. “I am committed to public safety and ensuring Justice for all. Public safety requires strong, experienced and ethical prosecution.” 

Durkin, currently chief in the district attorney’s office, announced his candidacy in January 2019. “I felt it was necessary to step up, put public safety ahead of politics and get justice for every case. I have been working hard for 18 months.

“I will work to reverse the damaging increase in crime in the last five years,” Durkin said. Both Jefferson and Gilpin counties have seen a dramatic increase in crime even before COVID-19.  

Jefferson County’s felony filings had increased 15 to 20 percent and Gilpin County increased nearly 50 due to bad policies in Colorado. “I have been honored to fight for my community where I was born and raised, and now live with my wonderful family,” Durkin said. 

“With a strong Colorado heritage, our community is as safe as it is beautiful. However, the fabric of our community is being tested by the devastation of addiction that is fueling a crime wave. 

“I am running for district attorney to continue to fight for public safety in the community I love. As your next district attorney, I pledge to seek justice in every case, through strong, experienced, ethical prosecution; pursue justice for the most vulnerable in our community, including children, and victims of domestic violence, sex crimes and elder abuse; find compassionate rehabilitation options for those suffering from addiction to help them break free from the prison of addiction. 

“Rehabilitation must include responsibility, opportunity and regression management.” Durkin would also seek balance and criminal justice reform that goes beyond an offender-centered analysis including victims, public safety and common-sense alternatives.”

Durkin grew up in the South Denver area. He attended Bear Creek High School, and then went to the University of Denver Law School.  He now has nearly 25 years as a prosecutor, most in the First Judicial District.

Durkin also ran the Criminal Justice Section for the Colorado Attorney General’s Office from 2011 to 2015, when he prosecuted major homicides all over Colorado. He supervised the criminal justice section with a $10 million budget and a staff of more than 70. 

At the same time, he worked with the legislator on a nearly daily basis at the forefront of criminal justice reform. He worked on requiring mandatory annual training for all police officers in Colorado and also passed the Wrongful Conviction Compensation Bill, which provides restitution or compensation for anyone wrongfully convicted who has a statement of actual innocence, not because of a technicality, but actual innocence.  

Following his work with the attorney general’s office, Durkin came back to the First Judicial District office, where he is now a chief. Now, after COVID and the closure of courts, the office is managing a backlog of trials with one trial per day and trying to get caught up.

Durkin based his campaign for district attorney on reform in addition to prosecution, because the true issue is a 50 percent recidivism rate, when previously convicted people return to the jails or courts.

“I have a vision for reform for our office that we can provide meaningful drug and mental health treatment to reduce that recidivism,” Durkin said. They can learn from a diversion program currently being used, which has been the most successful in the country with a more than 70 percent success rate compared to 18 percent for those on probation. 

In the diversion program, staff asks every client to take responsibility for their crime, so they are not fighting with clients about whether they should be there, but they are working together to be sure they don’t come back. He would like to bring that program to Jefferson and Gilpin counties on a wider scale. 

“The district attorney is the leader of the prosecution and responsible for public safety and prosecution,” Durkin said “That means justice, not convictions, which is why enhanced mental health and drug treatment will help.” 

Durkin said he will work with the courts, probation, community leaders including businesses, the faith-based community and treatment providers to provide accountability. “We have to adjust and get better, but we can’t lose the foundation.” 

The office needs to continue recruiting and retaining the best staff to meet the core mission of effective sentencing alternatives to reduce recidivism. “I’m excited to take what we have now and build on it,” he said. 

That will require greater communication and transparency with the community. The office has a Citizen’s Academy once a year, in which citizens come into the office once a week for a couple of months and learn everything about the office. 

“We have such an amazing community and response,” Durkin said. They have about 50 people go through the academy every year.

Durkin would like to pull from the academy graduates to form a Citizens’ Advisory Group in Jefferson and Gilpin counties. The DA would provide the group updates and special cases, such as officer- involved incidents, to inform them and get feedback from that group. Durkin also would like to have regular town halls to provide citizens an opportunity to come and ask questions. 

“For over twenty years, I have prosecuted major crimes across Colorado including the First Judicial District,” Durkin said. “With experience as a courtroom litigator, manager of prosecutors’ offices and as a leader of criminal justice reform, I will implement these principles to continue the strong legacy of the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office.” For more information, go to https://www.durkinforda.com/home.

(Originally published in the August 13, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)