Latest news with #DelinquencyAct
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Crime package headed to New Mexico House
Rep. Christine Chandler, (D-Los Alamos), right, and Megan Dorsey, an attorney and expert witness, present a package of crime bills to the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 12, 2025. (Photo by Eddie Moore / Albuquerque Journal) The New Mexico House Judiciary Committee voted on Wednesday afternoon in a 7-4 party-line vote to advance a package of six bills intended to reduce crime. The package of legislation, including bills with sponsors from both parties, now heads to the floor of the House of Representatives. It was not clear on Wednesday when the House would actually vote. Committee Chair Rep. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos) is sponsoring the package called House Bill 8. She said the bills were rolled into one in response to public interest 'and our commitment to the public to address crime swiftly.' 'We are doing that through a collection of bills that I think are very meaningful and impactful,' Chandler said. A self-described Public Safety Coalition composed of 11 civic organizations issued a news release with comments it said would have been delivered had public comments been allowed in the hearing. However, Chandler said no public comments would be allowed as each bill within the package had already been through the public comment process. In that statement, the coalition, which includes NM Native Vote, Equality New Mexico, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless, said while members appreciated the collaborative work done to address their concerns about the criminal competency proposals, the final bill fails to address root causes and instead 'focuses on new crimes, increased punishments, and forced hospitalization.' In a statement, ACLU-NM Interim Director of Public Policy Lena Weber said the caucus proposals 'wrapped up into HB8 now depart starkly from those championed by these community voices. While the proposal makes significant improvements from the proposals of the 2024 special session, HB8 still relies principally on coerced care and forced hospitalization, which we know often exacerbate the very problems they seek to fix.' Rep. Steven McQueen (D-Santa Fe) said he voted for the package to reach the House, but said his vote on the floor 'may be different.' After the hearing, he told Source NM he opposes House Bill 106, which gives police officers more leeway to collect and test someone's blood if they are suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Rep. Nicole Chavez (R-Albuquerque) said she voted against the package because it doesn't go far enough and doesn't include her proposed changes to the Delinquency Act, which governs how the state can hold children accountable for behavior that would be considered criminal if they were over 18. Chandler said that bill would be inappropriate to include in this package because it hasn't been heard in any committee yet, while every bill in this package had already been discussed. 'It will be heard in due course,' Chandler told Chavez. 'It will not be in this package, as I understand it.' House Bill 4 would give prosecutors more options to involuntarily commit people into a locked psychiatric facility if they are found to be dangerous and unable to stand trial. House Bill 16 would increase sentences for trafficking fentanyl, depending on how many pills the defendant is convicted of possessing. House Bill 31 would more severely punish the crime of threatening to shoot people by increasing the attached penalty from a misdemeanor, which carries a maximum possible jail sentence between six months and one year, to a fourth-degree felony, which comes with 18 months in prison. House Bill 38 would ban devices that can convert semi-automatic firearms into fully automatic ones. House Bill 50 would group together the sentences for four different crimes related to stealing motor vehicles. State law already requires longer prison terms if someone commits one of these crimes on multiple occasions, but HB50 would make subsequent convictions carry greater sentences for having violated any of the four statutes. House Bill 106 would allow police officers to test someone's blood for drugs or alcohol if they refuse to take a breath test and the police have probable cause to believe they committed a misdemeanor. Existing law only allows police to test someone's blood when they drive under the influence and either kill or seriously injure someone, or when the drive impaired and the officer has probable cause to believe they also committed a felony while doing so.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Mexico governor: Competency and commitment reforms ‘critical' this year
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham gestures during her State of the State address on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM) New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Tuesday she believes this legislative session will be the one in which lawmakers send to her desk reforms that would connect mental health treatment to people who are accused of crimes, but are unable to stand trial. 'I'm very grateful for the bipartisan, very effective, incredible work by so many legislators who are working to do both: invest in the prevention and compassionate supportive treatment,' Lujan Grisham said at a news conference, flanked by police, some of her cabinet members and lawmakers from both parties. 'We aren't going to vilify poverty or mental health issues but we aren't going to tolerate a revolving door of criminality anywhere in this state. We can do both,' she said. Lujan Grisham said a proposal that would expand the state court system's existing process for determining whether people facing criminal charges are competent to stand trial is 'really critical.' A bill from House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos) would allow courts to order people who are accused of felony-level crimes and are found incompetent to stand trial to participate in community competency restoration programs, without necessarily requiring them to be in a locked facility. Changing New Mexico's criminal competency law to make it easier to find someone dangerous and put them in a locked facility for treatment was one of the proposals that Lujan Grisham brought for the special session in the summer; advocates said her bill could have led to unjust outcomes, while lawmakers in her own party declined to sponsor it during the gathering in July at the Roundhouse. Chandler said she believes her bill strikes an appropriate balance between incarcerating people who commit violent felonies and are not competent to stand trial, and enhancing opportunities for them to be brought to a point where they can participate in their own defense. 'Those individuals simply get released if they are not deemed competent and they do not get any services, and I think that's a heartbreaking thing that we all as a society in this state should be addressing,' she said. That bill received its first hearing on Tuesday afternoon in the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman is proposing an overhaul of New Mexico's Delinquency Act, which governs how the state can hold children accountable for behavior that would be considered criminal if they were over 18. Bregman said Tuesday crime overall is getting better but 'violent juvenile crime is out of control,' and he doesn't believe young people face consequences when they first enter the criminal legal system. 'We can walk and chew gum at the same time when it comes to juvenile crime,' he said. 'We can give the necessary behavioral health, family-intervention type treatment. And at the same time, we can also have consequences. It does not have to be an either or.' One of the proposals he wants, being carried this session by Sen. Antonio 'Moe' Maestas (D-Albuquerque), would increase the penalty for unlawful possession of a gun from a misdemeanor to a fourth-degree felony. Lujan Grisham said she 'really wants' the bill passed because too many people are getting firearms shortly after getting out of prison. That bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee but as of press time had not yet been scheduled for a hearing. Lujan Grisham said there is the potential for an omnibus public safety package, containing multiple changes to the state's criminal laws, reaching her desk 'before the midway point' in the session. 'I feel pretty confident we are further along than I think they've ever been on a robust package, and I've been working with the Legislature for about four years,' she said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
