Every day when Chris Reynolds ’10 goes into work, he asks himself: “How can I help somebody today?†As deputy city attorney for the city of Â鶹ӰԺ, Reynolds is uniquely positioned to impact the lives of people living in Â鶹ӰԺ, particularly the unhoused community.
Reynolds has played an integral role in establishing Â鶹ӰԺ’s Community Court, which uses an individual and trauma-informed approach to resolve court cases instead of cycling people between the streets and jail.
“It didn't take long for me to see [when I began working in Â鶹ӰԺ] that 99.9 % of people coming out of the jail were unhoused and being arrested on really low-level tickets, then failing to come to court for things like camping, trespassing, or having an open container of alcohol,†Reynolds explained. “Sending people to jail even for a short amount of time can have a significant impact on somebody’s life. It can have all sorts of repercussions.â€
Reynolds and former Municipal Judge Linda Cooke ’85 quickly realized that sending unhoused individuals to jail, having them do community service, or fining them was not fixing any problems, nor was it deterring them from recommitting low-level offenses.
“Judge Cooke started this idea of taking a different approach to violations, and in 2020, established a community court focused on homelessness and cases involving unhoused defendants,†Reynolds said. “Instead of penalizing or punishing people when they get low-level tickets, we help them, and that has been the focus now for years.â€
Community courts use a combined strategy of holding participants accountable while connecting them to social services to help address the root causes of crime. A unique aspect of Community Court is that it meets people where they are in the community, such as parks and churches. It then uses technology to connect back to the courtroom, so the defendant never has to come to the Â鶹ӰԺ County Justice Center. The city attorney’s office has identified charges automatically eligible for the program, such as camping, trespassing, and littering—crimes typically associated with homelessness that do not have a victim.
The low-level citations that bring individuals to court serve as an opportunity to help resolve a person’s unhoused status and are tailored to specifically meet each individual’s needs. This could be as simple as replacing a state identification card, or as complex as getting a person ready for housing.
“We try to resolve things in a way that gets cases dismissed and helps move people further along towards housing because that is such a fundamental need, and is really the overall focus of the program,†Reynolds explained.
Reynolds also noted that many people who are experiencing homelessness may have cases in both the municipal and state court. These differences in jurisdiction often leave defendants confused, which is why another critical part of community court entails making court processes easier for those who have committed low level offenses.
“Punishing people for committing offenses that are linked to their status of being unhoused does not make them any less likely to be unhoused,†Reynolds noted. “You can't punish people out of being unhoused, or out of mental illness or addiction. You can only do things to help people experiencing those struggles, and that is really what this court is focused on.â€
So far, the court’s empathetic approach has proven to be successful. From January 2021 to April 2024, 429 people with 1,097 cases were seen in Community Court. Over 1,217 tasks or sanctions were ordered, and 1,083 of those were completed—a completion rate of 89%. Furthermore, Community Court helped to house 31 individuals in 2023. Previously, sanctions such as traditional community service were completed less than 10% of the time, often landing individuals in jail and failing to address the root cause of the original crime.
In addition to implementing the program and ensuring it meets the community's needs, Reynolds and his team have worked diligently to address concerns around the court. This ensures that Â鶹ӰԺ residents understand the program and the many ways it benefits both the city and those experiencing homelessness.
“We often go to meetings where people have concerns, and we address those head on,†Reynolds explained. “By and large, when people understand Community Court, they become more supportive.â€
Another key component of ensuring the court’s success is hiring and training progressive prosecutors— including alumni Deshawna Zazueta '19 and Mia Keller '22—a process Reynolds sees as one of the most critical parts of his job.
“I try to develop the new attorneys we hire so that they can be independent, problem-solving prosecutors who are committed to social justice to their core,†Reynolds said. “Traditionally, prosecution offices have measured success by how many convictions they have or how long they put people in prison. We measure it by how many people we can help.â€
Reynolds’ previous experience as a Marine Corps Judge Advocate played a pivotal role in developing his skills as an attorney. Throughout his military service, he worked both as a prosecutor and defender for felony-level cases, allowing him to see both sides of the criminal justice system.
“What became really clear to me in the Marines was that typically the people who get in trouble with the law have had some sort of traumatic experience,†Reynolds said. “Marines and sailors who got into trouble often had previous combat deployments or diagnosed PTSD or had developed substance use issues.â€
This experience helped Reynolds more fully recognize that trauma cannot be ignored in criminal law, and this knowledge has had a profound impact in shaping his work— and approach—as a city attorney.
Reynolds’ work in the community court demonstrates that it is possible to take a more compassionate, human-centered approach to the criminal justice system—one that prevents recidivism while still holding people accountable and giving them a chance to gain stability.
His time at Colorado Law played a pivotal role in shaping his work. In fact, Reynolds says he initially became hooked on criminal law as a student in the Criminal Defense Clinc with professors Ann England and Violeta Chapin, an experience that he shared “really taught me the value of experiential learning.â€
“It was interesting [work], and I loved the idea of helping people who have no money figure out their situation,†Reynolds said. “[During my time in clinics] I was lucky enough to do a jury trial in Jefferson County on a DUI [case].... and since then, I've only ever practiced criminal law.â€
From his days as a student attorney in the Criminal Defense Clinic to his work designing and establishing the Â鶹ӰԺ Community Court, Reynolds personifies the best of the University of Colorado Law School’s values. We are proud to count him among our alumni.