On Tuesday, November 12, Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman appeared for the third time before the New Mexico Legislature’s Courts, Corrections and Justice Interim Committee. The Committee is one of the most influential committees of the legislature and consists of 36 House and Senate members. It meets year-round and vets proposed legislation.
District Attorney Bregman appeared before the committee to once again update the committee and promote his ambitious plan to rewrite New Mexico’s juvenile justice law and in particular the Children’s Code and the Delinquency Act within the Children’s Code. Bregman told the committee fixing the juvenile justice system needs to be front and center during the 2025 legislative session that begins January 21 and ends on March 22, 2025
PROPOSED CHANGES OUTLINED
Bregman’s office has developed a list of 36 amendments to the Children’s Code and the Delinquency Act. These changes include expanding the types of crimes where juveniles can be charged as adults, extending the jurisdiction of juvenile services to 25 years old and expanding youth gun restrictions. Bregman presented the committee with a 64-page bill with proposed amendments to the children’s code to crack down on youth crime. The proposed changes are all aimed at making sure there’s proper guardrails for juvenile criminals.
The proposed changes to the Children’s Code and Delinquency Act Bregman has listed are the most important are:
- Expanding the definition of “Serious Youthful Offender” to include second degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, criminal sexual penetration (rape), armed robbery with the use of a firearm, shooting at or from a motor vehicle causing great bodily harm or death, and shooting at dwelling or occupied building causing great bodily harm or death.
- Extending the age of possible imprisonment for “Youthful Offenders” from 21 to 25 years old. As the law is currently written, once a juvenile offender turns 21, in most cases, the criminal justice system automatically loses jurisdiction. Extending jurisdiction to age 25 would provide more time to get youthful offenders to get the treatment and supervision they need, while also monitoring the progress they are making.
- Making it a felony for unlawful possession of a firearm for people under 19 to have any guns, including rifles, and not just handguns. Right now, it is illegal for anyone under the age of 19 to be in possession of a handgun. However, it is not illegal for anyone under the age of 19 to possess an assault rifle. The law would be updating language from “handgun”to “firearm,” which will include assault rifles. Bregman is also proposing to increase the penalty for this crime from a misdemeanor to a fourth-degree felony.
- Moving a person to an adult facility once they reach the age of 18. Bregman believes that when a juvenile convicted of a violent crime turns 18, they should go to an adult facility because he does not want an 18-year-old in custody with a 13-year-old.
- Remove the use of the “Risk Assessment Tool” to determine if a child is to be detained and allow prosecutors to file charges without having to first consult the juvenile probation office. Bregman said detention risk assessments also often stand in the way of holding young people who have been arrested, adding the assessments fail to give judges enough discretion and law enforcement officers enough credit as people with firsthand knowledge of a crime. Bregman said this: “I say that if a police officer determines that that person needs to be arrested at the time, they need to be booked into the [detention center], and within 24 hours or so, a judge needs to hear and determine whether or not that person should be detained pending adjudication of the charges”.
- Unsealing juvenile records during certain court hearings proceedings. This would consist of removing the secrecy laws that seal juvenile records from public review for the most serious offenders. This would allow juvenile records to be used during any adult conditions of release or sentencing hearing without having to obtain a court order to unseal the records. Every judge has the right to know and consider if the person in front of them has a violent past when determining conditions of release or sentencing. This change would allow for additional information to be heard and considered and will ultimately promote public safety.
- Requiring judges to preside over juvenile detention hearings.
- Grant judge’s discretion on the length of probation or commitment terms based on a juvenile’s history.
Bregman said from January of last year to November of this year there have been 1,448 juvenile cases. This includes 24 homicides, 386 cases involving firearms, 49 armed robberies, and 44 rapes. He said from 2022 to 2023, there’s been a 57% increase in cases that involved kids with guns. However, in the first ten months of 2024, there was a 37.5% decrease in juvenile felony gun crimes compared to the same time in 2023. Bregman said this:
“2022 was still at the tail end of the pandemic… I think we had a lot of kids that weren’t even in school at the time. … I can’t attribute [the decrease] to a single thing, but I know it’s still far too much going on. … It is real, it is escalating, it is unacceptable at every level.”
Bregman told the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee this:
“Too many people, too many victims are killed by juveniles in our community. My office, after seeing … clear trends of escalating violence involving youth, determined that we needed to take a thorough review of the Children’s Code. … The last time the Children’s Code was updated in any meaningful way, as far as the Delinquency Act, was in the previous century. It was before the iPhone was even invented, and we all know things have changed dramatically, especially when it comes to juveniles and iPhones. … It’s just so there’s some consequences to understand that there’s certain laws and norms in our society that people need to follow. … Because at the end of the day, if you commit these kind of heinous, awful kind of adult crimes, you should be charged as an adult. … At the end of the day, it’s to have consequences for young people so that we’re not sentencing them for murder. I want them to know that the first time they get in trouble, there’s some consequences.”
STUDENT EDUCATION CAMPAIGN
Because of juvenile gun violence, Bregman has engaged in an education campaign speaking to students in schools across Albuquerque. November 14 was the most recent time Bregman spoke to high school students. Bregman spoke to over 1,100 high school students during a student assembly at Valley High School.
Bregman was very clear to the point of being blunt telling the students that his office as well as the Albuquerque Public Schools system have a ZERO tolerance for guns on school campuses. Bregman made it very clear to the assembly that no matter the age, no matter the circumstance, anyone caught with gun on any school campus will be fully prosecuted by his office and will serve time behind bars.
He said school safety must be preserved to protect all. He told the students they have the responsibility to tell school officials of anyone who they see bringing a gun to school. Bregman also warned the students of fentanyl use, telling them of the dangers of the drug that kills.
HESITANT LAWMAKERS
During the November 12 hearing, lawmakers expressed concerns and hesitancy about the changes to the Children’s Code.
State Rep. Christine Chandler and state Sen. Joseph Cervantes chair the Legislature’s two powerful judiciary committees. They are considered the “gatekeepers” of all public safety bills. Both suggested to Bregman there are other issues to address.
Representative Chander told Bregman this:
“We continue to be committed to looking at the competency law that’s currently in place and making appropriate changes that make sense to us. … We also are looking at gun violence, juvenile crime issues, and we will, of course, give due consideration [to your] proposals.”
State Senator Joeseph Cervantes said this:
“We’re not interested in things that optically look good. Increasing penalties and sentences always is an emotional reaction to crime, but we know we’ve got to have resources all the way through the system”.
Bregman told the committee he would like to see those who turn 18 years old whilst in juvenile detention to be transferred straight to county jail with other adults which current law prohibits. It’s an amendment one lawmaker questioned. Rep. Andrea Reeb, a Republican representing Chaves, Curry, and Roosevelt Counties, said this about the amendment:
“I understand not having 18-year-olds in with 13-year-olds, absolutely. But, I’m troubled by the solution to that putting 18-year-olds with 40-year-olds who, I suspect that 18-year-old will come out even more likely to be engaged with criminal behavior.”
Bregman said he doesn’t want to lock kids up and throw away the key but does want to show kids there are consequences to their actions. Long time serving Rep. Gail Chasey, a Democrat from Albuquerque, who did not seek reelection and is leaving the legislature January 1, said this:.
“I urge you to seek evidence of effectiveness as you try to implement these things.”
State Sen. Katy Duhigg said this:
“It seems like that’s not being applied, that that consideration of their not fully developed frontal cortex is not being applied consistently.”
Republican State Rep. Bill Rehm, who will be leaving the legislature January 1, said this:
“You want to extend the definition of the handgun now to a firearm, and that’s going to be problematic.”
House Minority Whip, Republican state Rep. Alan Martinez, says he’s feeling optimistic after this round of committee meetings. Martinez said this:
“We’ve realized that crime doesn’t only affect one political party or the other, it affects all New Mexicans, and it’s our responsibility to keep New Mexicans safe. And come up here and come up with some very common-sense policy, it’s going to keep our streets safe.”
NEW MEXICO CHIEF PUBLIC DEFENDER RESPONDS
Juvenile crime stats, provided by the Law Office of the Public Defender, show most juvenile crime is decreasing. Armed robbery, criminal sexual penetration, shooting at or from a motor vehicle, or at a dwelling, and aggravated battery have all trended down recently. However, the Public Defender Office statistics also show juvenile murder has trended up since 2019. In that same time, juvenile auto theft has also increased dramatically.
New Mexico Chief Public Defender Bennet Baur wants the same thing as Bregman when it comes to diverting young people away from committing serious crimes later. However, Baur has a dramatically different perspective on how to achieve that goal. The public defender’s office has said that charging kids as adults causes them to lose certain protections. Baur also said they’d like to see more money funneled to services for kids to address the root causes that lead them to commit crimes. Baur said this:
“We have to let them know the dangers. I think that’s very important. But it’s not necessarily through incarceration. … My concern is that we make decisions based upon numbers that only look at what happened during COVID. … As those numbers go down, and as crime goes down naturally, that’s going to leave a lot of kids in detention and a lot of people in prison.”
Links to quoted and relied upon news sources are here:
https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/da-sam-bregman-lays-out-plan-to-rewrite-new-mexico-childrens-code/
https://www.kob.com/news/missing-pieces-juvenile-crime-trends-4-investigates/
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
Simply put, New Mexico’s children are committing more and more violent crimes where guns are involved. The state’s Children Code and our Juvenile Criminal Justice System has not been able to keep up with changing times to deal with what now can only be considered a major crisis. Part of the problem is just how complicated the children’s code really is and its application. The ultimate question that must be addressed is what is in the “best interest of the child” and keeping a family together versus punishment, incarceration and making sure justice is served and the public is protected.
It is very clear that the primary emphasis and purpose of the Children’s Code is not punishment in the form of confinement of child for crimes committed but on rehabilitation, services, counseling and social services. The primary goal of the Children’s Code and the Juvenile Justice System is to keep the family unit intact and what is in the best interest of the child. Such an approach is wise whenever you are dealing with delinquency types of cases and children of tender age. It is teenage juveniles, ages 13 to 15, that pose the biggest problem of what approach is in order.
Under the children’s code there is no mandatory sentencing and confinement when delinquency is found. When incarceration does happen it can only be up and until the child reaches 18. However, things do get very complicated when gun violence is involved and protecting the general public from gun violence and when it comes to sentencing a child as an adult when charges are brought against the child as a “youthful offender” or “serious youthful offender.”
All of the major proposals and changes to the Children’s Code as outlined and proposed by District Attorney Sam Bregman are reasonable, should be considered necessary given the violent crimes being committed by juveniles and should be adopted by the legislature. No doubt many will argue that they run afoul of the purpose and intent of the Children’s Code which is to do what is in the best interest of a child.
DA Bregman’s proposals to expand the definition of “serious youthful offender” so more types of crimes could lead to children being tried as adults is reasonable and necessary given the extent and types of violent crime that is being committed. The challenge for the legislature is to decide what types of offenses for which a juvenile can be charged as an adult. Right now, that can only happen for first-degree murder.
What should be included are all violent crimes involving a weapon and should include the crimes of aggravated assault, aggravated battery armed robbery with a firearm, and child abuse resulting in death. The legislature should also fix the law that currently allows a teenager to wield an assault rifle, though handguns are still illegal.
The link to a related blog article is here: