Latest news with #NicoleChavez
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Mexico Senate to judge parole reforms
Concertina wire tops a fence at a detention facility. (Getty Images) A proposal to modernize New Mexico's parole board and change the way its members can consider an incarcerated person's request for parole is headed to the state Senate. Sens. Leo Jaramillo (D-Española) and Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe) and Rep. Nicole Chavez (R-Albuquerque) are sponsoring Senate Bill 17, which introduces evidence-based practices when the board is considering whether to release someone who is serving a life sentence in prison. SB 17 also clarifies crime victims' role in its deliberations and creates a process for removing members to protect their political independence. The Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee on Feb. 6 voted 8-1 to pass the bill, and the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 12 voted unanimously to send it to the full Senate. The bill has support from the Parole Board itself, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, and the Law Offices of the Public Defender. The legislation also changes the guidance to parole board members about how they should consider incarcerated people's requests for parole. Rather than asking parole board members to focus on the incarcerated person's conduct that led to their conviction, the bill would require them to instead focus on how they have acted since they went behind the New Mexico Corrections Department's walls. In other words, the bill would guide parole board members to evaluate the incarcerated person's conduct after a judge sentences them to figure out if they have shown they are ready to be released back into their community. It would also require the board to hear from victims' families or representatives in the case before making a decision. Over the past year, the board has gone through 'numerous' changes in membership, Director Roberta Cohen told lawmakers on Feb. 6. The bill would prohibit the governor from removing a member unilaterally, but allow the governor or the board to remove members for incompetence, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office. This story originally misidentified Nicole Chavez's position. Source regrets the error. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Public safety package passes major hurdle at the Roundhouse
SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – A sweeping public safety package, the first for this legislative session, includes six bills that tackle a variety of critical issues. One of the big issues highlighted is a revision to the state's criminal competency laws. Story continues below NM Film: Storied New Mexico movie ranch transitions into a new era Investigation: 'I'm scared to death': Defense attorney at center of DWI scheme reports burglary Real Estate: $16M Abiquiu farm for sale offers chance to live inside an O'Keeffe painting House Bill 8 would expand the evaluation process to allow judges to make a case-by-case review for suspects accused of certain serious crimes. They would have to go through a mental health hearing to determine if they are competent to stand trial and if they are dangerous. If a defendant is deemed incompetent and considered to be dangerous to themselves or others, then they can be involuntarily admitted to a mental health facility. A hearing will be held 90 days later to check if they can stand trial. 'But where the individual is deemed not dangerous and not competent…we have expanded the opportunities to work with individual,' said Rep. Christine Chandler (D – Los Alamos). This crime package also includes other bills aimed at tackling issues like converting handguns into automatic weapons, and stricter penalties for fentanyl trafficking and auto theft. It also makes a shooting or bomb threat a fourth-degree felony. Some lawmakers say this bill is a step in the right direction while others argue it does not do enough to hold criminals accountable. 'I am in favor of most of the bills in here if not all maybe just other than one concern and so I just I just don't feel like it goes far enough to address crime in the state,' said Rep. Nicole Chavez (R-Albuquerque). Ultimately, the bill passed on a 7-4 vote and now heads to the house floor for a vote. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Crime package headed to full House, despite criticism about its scope and focus
Feb. 12—SANTA FE — A crime package headed to the House floor would boost penalties for fentanyl trafficking, school shooting threats, auto theft and certain firearm conversion devices. The package, House Bill 8, includes six different crime-related bills, including a change in how New Mexico treats criminal defendants who are deemed incompetent to stand trial. After being rolled out, it passed the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday on a party-line 7-4 vote, with Republicans saying the legislation falls short in its aim of reducing New Mexico's elevated violent crime rate. "I just feel like this crime package doesn't go far enough to address crime," said Rep. Nicole Chavez, R-Albuquerque, who specifically lamented it does not include tougher penalties for juvenile criminal defendants. Even some Democrats expressed reservations with the public safety package, saying they opposed some of the bills that were ultimately included. "Packages are hard to vote on when you may disagree with certain parts," said Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe. However, backers said the crime package would dovetail with a separate behavioral health package advancing in the Senate to bolster New Mexico's approach to crime, homelessness, mental illness and substance abuse issues. The strategy of adding multiple bills into a single package, or omnibus bill, is not a new one at the Roundhouse, as Democratic lawmakers have used it to address crime and tax changes in recent years. Proponents say package just a start The crime package is not "perfect," acknowledged Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos, on Wednesday, who has worked for months to craft the competency bill. But she said the bills selected for the package had been vetted in previous House committees and had received bipartisan support. "I felt that it was important to have bills where we got some consensus and we felt that people could get behind," Chandler told the Journal. Public safety has emerged as a key issue during the 60-day legislative session that started last month, with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham exhorting lawmakers to enact stiffer criminal penalties and make it easier to keep defendants accused of certain violent crimes in jail pending trial. The governor last year called a special session on crime that ended with lawmakers largely ignoring her public safety-focused agenda. Lujan Grisham has not backed down, however, and urged lawmakers during a recent interview to stop being "risk adverse" in their approach to crime. New Mexico's violent crime rate was almost twice the national average as of 2023, though FBI data showed a drop in reported property and violent crime from 2022 to 2023. Too far or not far enough? Even as Republicans said the crime package does not go far enough, a coalition of advocacy groups said it would create new crimes, lengthen sentences and potentially force New Mexicans into psychiatric facilities that have not yet been built. "While the proposal makes significant improvements from the proposals of the 2024 special session, (the crime package) still relies principally on coerced care and forced hospitalization, which we know often exacerbate the very problems they seek to fix," said Lana Weber, the interim director of public policy for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico. But Chandler defended the proposed approach to criminal competency, which would give judges more options for ordering defendants into court-run diversion programs. "I think people are rightfully concerned that we need greater accountability/treatment mechanisms for those individuals who have basically just been released and put back on the street and they're not getting cared for," she said. Chandler also said the crime package could be amended as it moves forward through the legislative process. "This isn't the end. This is obviously just the start. But I think it's a really good start," she said. "I think it sends a strong message to the citizens of the state that we are ready, able and willing to address public safety, while at the same time working to rebuild our behavioral health system," added Chandler. House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, said the crime package could be voted on by the full House of Representatives in the coming days.
