Colorado § 19-3-308.5 Recorded interviews of child

Colorado Statutes

§ 19-3-308.5 — Recorded interviews of child

Colorado § 19-3-308.5

Title 19Children's

Art.Dependency and Neglect

This text of Colorado § 19-3-308.5 (Recorded interviews of child) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 19-3-308.5 (2026).

Text

(1)Any interview of a child conducted pursuant to section 19-3-308, concerning a report of child abuse, may be audiotaped or videotaped. However, interviews concerning reports of sexual child abuse are strongly encouraged to be videotaped. A competent interviewer at a child advocacy center, as that term is defined in section 19-1-103, that has a memorandum of understanding with the agency responsible for the investigation or a competent interviewer for the agency responsible for the investigation in accordance with such section shall conduct an audiotaped or videotaped interview; except that an interview must not be videotaped when doing so is impracticable under the circumstances or will result in trauma to the child, as determined by the investigating agency. No more than one

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(1) Any interview of a child
conducted pursuant to section 19-3-308, concerning a report of child abuse, may
be audiotaped or videotaped. However, interviews concerning reports of sexual
child abuse are strongly encouraged to be videotaped. A competent interviewer at a
child advocacy center, as that term is defined in section 19-1-103, that has a
memorandum of understanding with the agency responsible for the investigation or
a competent interviewer for the agency responsible for the investigation in
accordance with such section shall conduct an audiotaped or videotaped interview;
except that an interview must not be videotaped when doing so is impracticable
under the circumstances or will result in trauma to the child, as determined by the
investigating agency. No more than one videotaped interview is required unless the
interviewer or the investigating agency determines that additional interviews are
necessary to complete an investigation. The same interviewer shall conduct
additional interviews, to the extent possible. The recordings must be preserved as
evidence in the manner and for a period provided by law for maintaining such
evidence. In addition, access to the recordings is subject to the rules of discovery
under the Colorado rules of criminal and civil procedure.

(2) The provisions of this section shall not apply to a videotaped deposition
taken in accordance with and governed by section 18-3-413, C.R.S., or section 13-25-132, C.R.S., and rule 15 (d) of the Colorado rules of criminal procedure. In
addition, this section shall not apply to interviews of the child conducted after a
dependency and neglect action or a criminal action has been filed with the court.

(3) Any agency subject to the provisions of this section shall provide
equipment necessary to videotape or audiotape the interviews or shall enter into a
memorandum of understanding with a child advocacy center authorizing the use of
such equipment. The investigating agency shall train persons responsible for
conducting videotaped interviews in accordance with this section; except that the
agency shall not be responsible for training interviewers employed by a child
advocacy center. The agency shall adopt standards for persons conducting such
interviews.

(4) An agency that enters into a memorandum of understanding with a child
advocacy center that employs interviewers shall assure that such interviewers
meet the training standards for persons conducting interviews adopted by the
agency pursuant to subsection (3) of this section. In addition, an agency that enters
into a memorandum of understanding with a child advocacy center that provides
technical assistance for forensic interviews, forensic medical examinations, or
evidence collection or preservation may require that the child advocacy center
meets the national performance standards for children's advocacy centers as
established by the national accrediting body. These standards include, but are not
limited to, standards for forensic interviews to be conducted in a manner which is of
a neutral, fact-finding nature and coordinated to avoid duplicative interviewing.

Legislative History

Source: L. 91: Entire section added, p. 229, � 5, effective May 24. L. 93: Entire section amended, p. 1169, � 2, effective January 1, 1994. L. 2004: (1)(a) and (1)(e) amended and (1)(f) added, p. 806, � 1, effective May 21; (1)(e)(II) repealed, p. 194, � 10, effective August 4. L. 2016: Entire section amended, (SB 16-189), ch. 210, p. 760, � 32, effective June 6. L. 2021: (1) amended, (SB 21-059), ch. 136, p. 731, � 74, effective October 1.