29-03-2025
Tug-of-war over juvenile justice led to inaction, Republicans and Democrats alike say
Lawmakers said this year's session was going to be the one they used to tackle the rising problem of juvenile crime in New Mexico.
But politics waylaid — and ultimately shipwrecked — two of the most notable bills aimed at addressing the problem by way of updating the state's so-called 'outdated' Children's Code: House Bills 134 and 255.
Then, on the final night of the session, gunfire erupted during a car show at a Las Cruces park, leaving three teenagers dead, over a dozen injured, and lawmakers on all sides pointing fingers at each other for the Legislature's inaction on the issue of juvenile crime.
Republicans argued the Democratic majority did not bring proposals to the table that did enough to bring consequences to the state's most serious juvenile offenders. The latter argued their colleagues on the other side of the aisle were not open to compromise.
No one was happy, least of all Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
'The governor observed a fundamental lack of urgency among lawmakers regarding our juvenile crime problem,' spokesperson Jodi McGinnis Porter said in an email. 'She found it difficult to understand why many legislators failed to recognize the same concerns that thousands of New Mexicans clearly expressed during public safety town halls across their communities.'
Lujan Grisham has signaled that she intends to call a special session, in part focused on juvenile justice. On Friday, McGinnis Porter did not definitively say when, or if, that special session would take place, saying the governor 'has been and will continue [to] be inclusive of the legislature in discussing any agenda for the special session.'
Some top Democrats, however, have said special sessions can be ineffectual if they don't leave enough time for legislators to properly vet bills.
In a written statement, House Democratic spokesperson Camille Ward pointed to various measures passed this year that would ultimately help address juvenile crime issues by first tackling the state's troubled child welfare system and general public safety problems.
'Public safety starts with the safety of New Mexico's children, which is why House Democrats prioritized reforming the state's troubled Children, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD) this session,' she wrote. 'We cannot talk about juvenile crime without ensuring that New Mexico shows up for our most vulnerable and at-risk children.'
While she lamented the ultimate failure of HB 255, which she described as a key measure, Ward added the caucus would 'continue advocating for real, meaningful, and evidence-based solutions to public safety, including addressing juvenile crime' in the weeks and months to come.
'There's no consequences'
HB 134 faced a steep uphill battle from the get-go.
Some have argued the measure attempted to do too much all at once, with the original draft of the bill bundling an array of changes to the Children's Code, including proposals to immediately transfer teenagers to adult jails when they turn 18 and expanding the definition of serious youthful offenders, who are subject to adult penalties.
Rep. Andrea Reeb, R-Clovis, who carried the bill, said some lawmakers told her the bill had not been properly vetted — despite discussions held by interim legislative committees about ways to address juvenile crime, she said.
Still, when she tried to get the bill heard in its first stop in the Roundhouse, the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, Reeb said the panel's chair, Rep. Joanne Ferrary, D-Las Cruces, gave her the 'runaround.'
'I was just really frustrated that there was a lot of, 'Where is this coming from?' when we had definitely vetted it in the interim,' Reeb said in an interview.
HB 134 started out with bipartisan support — and not just from some Democrats in the House but also from other top officials, including Bernalillo County's District Attorney Sam Bregman and Lujan Grisham, both Democrats.
In the Roundhouse, however, Reeb said she saw that collaborative spirit fizzle, saying Democrats who signed onto HB 134 essentially went radio silent with her and did not help push the bill in committee.
Many criticized the measure as being too tough on children. Denali Wilson, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico — a staunch opponent of the proposal since before the session — said HB 134 was among lawmakers' 'worst ideas,' and that it focused too heavily on a strategy of punishing juvenile offenders that only perpetuates cycles of violence.
'What's so frustrating is seeing that hurt and hearing nothing but solutions that increase trauma,' she said, citing the Las Cruces shooting.
Reeb argued the bill would not take away rehabilitative programs for children who could be rehabilitated — just from those who have killed.
'When you take somebody's life, there's got to be consequences,' she said. 'And these kids — they know there's no consequences.'
The bill was ultimately tabled in House Consumer and Public Affairs, despite efforts by Reeb to pare the bill down to a handful of changes. Republican efforts to add the language of HB 134 into another, larger crime bill also failed.
'My colleagues chose to do nothing'
House Bill 255 faced an equally rocky road.
The measure, originally presented as a means of providing more funding for youth programming, was effectively 'hijacked' by House Democrats and turned into a political football by Republicans, said the measure's Senate sponsor Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque.
Specifically, lawmakers added in a provision to create monthly, up-to-$2,000 stipends for both former foster kids and formerly incarcerated youth that was slammed by Republicans, who called the stipend proposal a bid to create a 'homicide scholarship.'
Though that provision was eventually stripped from the bill when it moved to the Senate, Maestas said Republicans used 'classic political opportunism' to continue criticizing the bill by arguing it was too soft on young people accused of serious crimes.
He singled out freshman Sen. Nicole Tobiassen, R-Albuquerque, who expressed concern that six months of probation was not enough for children under 14 found guilty of a homicide. She cited recent details emerging in a fatal hit-and-run in Albuquerque in May in which two teenagers and one preteen are accused of intentionally running down a cyclist on his way to work at Sandia National Laboratories.
Under the bill, six months would have been a twofold expansion to the maximum term of supervised release a child under 14 could serve as part of a long-term commitment. Maestas noted that probation would only apply after a maximum 21-month commitment to a facility.
'It was shocking that someone would make [an] intellectual argument that stupid, that my colleague would be that stupid to try to make political hay out of a horrible, horrible tragedy, for a few political points,' Maestas said. 'It's sad. The people of New Mexico deserve better than what Nicole Tobiassen was doing.'
Tobiassen did not respond to a Friday request for comment on Maestas' remarks.
Wilson, the ACLU attorney, said HB 255 conflated the idea of imposing more penalties for children with the concept of 'accountability.' She cited the measure's inclusion of a provision from HB 134 to add voluntary manslaughter to the list of crimes for which teenagers could be classified as 'youthful offenders' and subject to adult penalties.
Maestas, however, argued HB 255 took a more gradual approach. While it did not seek to completely overhaul the Children's Code all at once, he argued it 'was something to hang our hat on in terms of responding to a public outcry.'
He added the Legislature's decision to not move forward with HB 255 means harsher bills like HB 134 are more likely to come up during a potential special session. The Senate failed to pass HB 255 on a 13-24 vote, with many Democrats joining Republicans in voting against it.
'We have a duty to govern, and people out there in the community are expecting us to do something on juvenile crime, and it's better to do something than nothing,' Maestas said. 'But my colleagues chose to do nothing.'
