Masterson Hall law firm is embarking on a new project comparing the laws applicable in the State of Colorado to the laws applicable around the world. Of course, the laws written by the Colorado State Legislature, as interpreted by the Colorado Judiciary, apply in the State of Colorado. The Constitution of the United States also applies in the State of Colorado through the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment made the United States Constitution applicable to all states. Thus, there are laws applicable in the State of Colorado that are applicable to all states. However, there are also laws applicable solely in Colorado. To make matters more complicated, sometimes Colorado laws that are seemingly the same or similar to the laws of other states are interpreted differently by the each state’s judiciary, respectively. This means laws in Colorado that use the same or similar language as another state may well be interpreted and applied by the Colorado judiciary in a different way and thus differ in its application from the other states’ laws in significant ways.
As one nation, travel among the states within the United States is easier, cheaper, and generally more frequent for most citizens than is international travel. For this reason, it is likely we Coloradans have a better understanding, or more accurate assumptions, of the laws of other states in this nation than we do other countries.
However, in the filed of criminal law it is generally known that the United States has higher incarceration rates than any other First World country. We are also plagued with racist policies and discriminatory enforcement of our laws. The attorneys at Masterson Hall law firm are embarking on a journey to compare the laws applicable in the State of Colorado to those in other states and internationally. Certainly, there are flaws in the laws of the State of Colorado. But how do we fix it? Though positive change is often slow, we believe we can best begin to bring about change by first beginning to understand how other sovereigns do things in order to borrow from (or model parts of our law after) them. Many nations are substantially older than the United States and have engaged in trial and error for much longer periods of time than we have – often times creating fairer systems and greater focus on prevention rather than punishment. And it is prevention that reduces harm to victims, reduces damage to property, promotes a healthier society, and establishes positive outcomes for those who could otherwise be committing crimes.
Over time, we will add information about the laws of other sovereignties to this website. Please see the links below as they are created:
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Maine (U.S.)
Yellowstone Nat’l Park (U.S.)