Motor Vehicle Thefts in the 1st Judicial District: Offense Trends, Case Trends and Impact of Senate Bill 23-097

In December 2022, we reviewed the impact of motor vehicle thefts on our community. At that time, the motor vehicle theft (MVT) offense rate throughout Colorado was peaking after a steady increase that began in 2020, and was nearly three times the national rate.

Two years later, after an equally dramatic decline, Colorado’s motor vehicle theft offense rate in 2024 (487) was 60% of what it was in 2022 (790).[1]

Nationally, motor vehicle theft offense rates lagged Colorado’s trends, increasing most dramatically in cities between 2021 and 2023. 2024 MVT offense rates remained elevated nationally.[2]

Some attribute the national increase in car theft to a 2022 “viral” TikTok video that exposed a security vulnerability of Kias and Hyundais[3], which represented 6 of the 10 most stolen models in 2023 nationally and statewide.[4] The car companies responded initially by providing steering wheel locks for owners, and then anti-theft software upgrades.

Motor Vehicle Theft Offenses and Arrests in the 1st Judicial District

In Jefferson County, trends mirror the post-2022 downward trends for the state: the MVT offense rate in 2024 (414 per 100,000) was 52% of what it was in 2022 (802 per 100,000). Other property crimes trended down also, but none as dramatically as motor vehicle theft.[5]

Raw numbers of reported motor vehicle thefts in both Jefferson and Gilpin Counties represent a dramatic decrease in the impact of motor vehicle theft on our community since 2022 – from 4,223 motor vehicle thefts in 2022 to 2,401 in 2024, a 43% decrease in two years.

Jefferson County's arrest rates for motor vehicle theft closely followed statewide trends from 2009 to 2019, including a near doubling of arrests between 2014 and 2019, when MVT offenses in Colorado first began to diverge up from national patterns. However, arrest rates did not keep up with the significant spike in MVT offenses corresponding to the Covid-19 pandemic. While MVT offenses surged between 2020 and 2022, arrest rates declined during that period before rising again in 2023.

Cases Filed by the 1st Judicial District Attorney

Consistent with local increases in reported MVT offenses, the 1st Judicial District experienced a dramatic increase in case filings beginning in 2020.  Case filings jumped approximately 50% between 2019 and 2020 and peaked in 2022, when there were nearly twice the case filings than in 2019. Like MVT offense rates, MVT case filings have steadily declined since the 2022 peak and now resemble pre-2020 case volumes.

Assessing the Impact of Colorado Senate Bill 23-097

Colorado Senate Bill 23-097 was implemented in mid-2023 and designed to increase the severity of punishment for motor vehicle theft. The new law removed the “aggravated” designation, made all MVT offenses felonies, eliminated the car value-based classification[6], and created a new misdemeanor offense, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, an M1.

MVT Charging

Looking at all MVT charges since 2021 (including cases where MVT is not the top charge), the following graphic illustrates that our office charged MVT as a misdemeanor about 22% of the time and a felony about 78% of the time, with no apparent impact from the statutory change. However, after 2022, there is a clear trend toward charging MVT as higher level felonies. In 2021-2022, the most common felony charge was F6, making up ~35% of cases. By 2024, F6 charges dropped to less than 10%, while F5 charges rose to 34%, F4 to 23% (up from around 6%), and F3 charges to 12% (also up from 6%).

MVT Case Resolutions

Trends in case resolutions were generally consistent year to year. The vast majority of defendants pled guilty (~85%), a rate higher than felony cases overall (~70%). Dismissal rates were ~5% per year, approximately half the rate of felony dismissals overall (~10%). Deferrals make up a small portion of case dispositions and decreased between 2023 (~4%) and 2024 (~1%) after showing a consistent increase between 2021 and 2023.

MVT Sentences

Given the movement towards higher level felonies discussed in MVT Charging, we should expect to see higher sentence penalties. In most years, approximately half of convicted MVT cases receive a probation sentence and approximately 20% receive a sentence to the Department of Corrections (DOC). These proportions have remained fairly stable every year, but there has been an increase in the average length of prison sentence on MVT charges. In 2021, the average DOC sentence on a MVT charge was 2.8 years; by 2024, it was 5.0 years. Other sentence category lengths were either stable year-to-year or showed only slight increases. These data are consistent with the trends in charging since implementation of SB23-097.

Summary

Our community was significantly impacted by a surge in motor vehicle thefts that began in 2020, peaked in 2022, and recently abated. Offense rates doubled over a three year period corresponding to the Covid-19 pandemic but have returned to pre-pandemic rates. Implemented after the 2022 peak, Senate Bill 23-097 did not impact the distribution of misdemeanor versus felony MVT charging, nor did it impact the distribution of sentences. However, felony MVT was more likely to be charged as an F3, F4 or F5 and less likely to be charged as an F6 after implementation of the new statutory framework. Consistent with the higher penalties carried by, e.g., an F3 conviction versus an F6 conviction, the average prison sentence length on an MVT conviction increased between 2021 and 2024.

[1] https://cdpsdocs.state.co.us/ors/Docs/Briefs/2024-09_QuartCrimeTrendsRpt-Y19Q2-Y24Q2.pdf. See also Colorado Auto Theft Annual Report 2024

[2] https://counciloncj.org/crime-trends-in-u-s-cities-year-end-2023-update/ (a nationally representative sample of 34 American cities)

[3] https://www.npr.org/2024/02/04/1227928003/rising-car-thefts-st-paul-minnesota-fallen-hyundai-kia

[4] https://lockdownyourcar.colorado.gov/facts and https://www.nicb.org/news/news-releases/new-report-imports-top-list-americas-most-stolen-vehicles

[5] https://coloradocrimestats.state.co.us/public

[6] Previously, theft of a higher valued car was a more serious offense and carried greater penalties than theft of a car of lower value.