Advocacy groups argue that decriminalizing jaywalking is the first step to stop tickets targeting minority groups. The next step? Fixing infrastructure.
By Marissa Solomon, 9News
DENVER — Soon, Denver city council will cast votes on a proposal to decriminalize jaywalking.
Pedestrian advocate groups say Denver’s laws aren’t in line with the rest of the state, and that the ticketing process targets some people more than others.
Executive Director of the Denver Streets Partnership advocacy group Jill Locantore has been doing this work for at least 10 years, says lower income communities are less likely to have safe pedestrian infrastructure, hence the jaywalking.
“They’re less likely to have a complete, well-maintained sidewalk network. They’re more likely to have streets like Federal Boulevard, where they’re safe pedestrian crossings are few and far between,” she said. “But those are also the places where we see the highest number of tickets for things like jaywalking, and so a disproportionate number of people of color, are getting the burden of this current policy.”
Those concerns were echoed by Denver City Councilors Candi Cdebaca, Jamie Torres and Jolon Clark during a committee presentation earlier this month.
City data from that presentation shows that Denver police only issued about 135 jaywalking tickets in the last five years. However, both advocates and councilors argue that enforcement isn’t necessarily equitable.
A quarter of those tickets were given to people identified as homeless, transient, or vagrant. Additionally, 41% of those tickets were given to black individuals, which is significant considering only 10% of Denver’s population is black.