On October 13, 2024 the Albuquerque Journal published the following Pete Dinelli guest opinion column:
HEADLINE: “New Mexico needs a statewide mental health Court”
BY PETE DINELLI, ALBUQUERQUE RESIDENT
“The New Mexico court system is launching four pilot programs in four separate counties in the state to divert people with serious mental illness into treatment who otherwise would face prosecution for minor crimes.
Far more needs to be done. Warehousing the mentally ill, drug addicted or the unhoused who are mentally ill or drug addicted in jails for crimes committed is simply not the answer. It does not address treatment, nor is it much of a solution.
According to one study, more than 3,200 people charged with crimes since 2017 in New Mexico have been released back into the community after being found incompetent to stand trial. More than 5,350 of the 16,045 dismissed charges were felonies. The dismissals include those charged with first-degree murder, trafficking controlled substances, kidnapping and abuse of a child.
Defendants charged with lesser crimes have been repeat offenders caught in a cycle of being charged, released, arrested again, charged again, and let go after court-ordered evaluations showed they cannot participate in their own defense and ruled they were mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the Legislature must strengthen and expand New Mexico’s mental health commitment laws, coupled with full funding for mental health facilities and the courts.
District attorneys and public defenders must be made a part of the solution by expanding the state mental health commitment laws and allowing the filing of civil mental health commitments that go beyond existing 3-day, 7-day and 30-day evaluation commitments and mandate prolonged mental health treatment.
District judges should be required to order district attorneys to file “involuntary commitment” proceedings against criminal defendants who are found incompetent to stand trial and who would be released without further criminal prosecution for crimes committed.
The 2025 Legislature should enact the governor’s proposal for the involuntary civil commitment of criminal defendants charged with a serious violent offense, a felony involving the use of a firearm, and those defendants who have also been found incompetent to stand trial two or more times in the past 12 months.
The Legislature should also enact the governor’s proposed bill that will broaden the definitions of danger to oneself and danger to others in New Mexico’s involuntary commitment statute that mandates involuntary treatment for people with mental illness. The law should mandate district attorneys to initiate involuntary civil commitments and allow a judge to mandate outpatient treatment.
It should allow individuals, whether first responders, family members or community members who work with mentally ill individuals on the streets, to request involuntary outpatient treatment.
During the 2025 session, the Legislature should seek to create a “mental health treatment court” to function as outreach and a treatment court for the drug addicted and the mentally ill, in a mandatory hospital or counseling settings, and not involving jail incarceration.
There is a major need for the construction and staffing of mental health facilities or hospitals to provide the services needed for the mentally ill and drug addicted.
New Mexico has historical surplus revenues with an astonishing $3.6 billion in reported surplus revenue. Now is the time to create a statewide a mental health court and dedicate funding for the construction of behavioral health hospitals and drug rehabilitation treatment facilities.
Funding for district attorneys and public defenders with dedicated personnel resources for the filing and defending of civil mental health commitments must be included.
A statewide mental health court with mandatory civil commitments will get treatment to those who need it the most, help get the unhoused off the streets and help families with loved ones who resist any mental health treatment.”
Pete Dinelli is a former Albuquerque city councilor, former chief public safety officer and former chief deputy district attorney. You can read his daily news and commentary blog at www.PeteDinelli.com.
The link to the Albuquerque Journal guest opinion column with photos is here:
The link to a related blog article is here: