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For Colorado public records, first classify the record as administrative, criminal justice or judicial. Route it to the actual agency or court custodian under the appropriate access framework, and keep those source boundaries intact when several Colorado records are combined.
Colorado source selection starts with the legal and institutional record family
Colorado public-record research becomes clearer when three lanes are separated early. Ordinary state or local administrative records may fall under CORA. Criminal justice records are governed by the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act. Court files are handled under Judicial Branch public-access policies and the procedures of the filing court. Using the wrong label can send the request to the wrong custodian and distort what a denial means.
The Attorney General’s guidance is also useful for defining its own role: the office does not act as a statewide custodian or automatically compel another agency to release records. A project therefore has to locate the public body or court that actually maintains the target file.
Place the Colorado record into the correct access lane before searching
Administrative record
Contract, correspondence, permit, policy or other ordinary government material
Use the state/local public body that maintains it under the applicable CORA process.
Criminal justice record
Record maintained by a criminal justice agency
Treat it under the CCJRA framework and preserve the agency custodian and any stated discretionary basis.
Court case record
Filing, decree, disposition or other material from a specific court case
Use the filing court or Judicial Branch request path and retain the case identifier.
Build a Colorado record request that keeps systems from bleeding together
1
Classify the record before naming the lawDecide whether the target is administrative, criminal-justice or judicial based on who created and maintains it.2
Identify the real custodianDirect the request to the agency or court that owns the file; do not use the Attorney General as a universal forwarding office.3
Use the source-specific identifierProject numbers, incident information, case numbers, dates or document types make each lane easier to reproduce.4
Interpret denial or absence within that frameworkA result under one Colorado access system does not answer what another agency or court maintains.Colorado records should retain both framework and source
| Record family | Primary source path | Boundary |
|---|---|---|
| Administrative public record | Maintaining state/local public body under CORA as applicable | Not automatically criminal-justice or court files |
| Criminal justice record | Criminal justice agency under CCJRA | Disclosure rules differ from ordinary CORA records |
| Court case record | Filing court / Judicial Branch record request | Not an executive-agency CORA search |