Legislators should focus on real solutions to confront crime

NM can’t keep throwing time, money on jailing as many as possible

New Mexico’s 2022 legislative session revealed a troubling trend in the Roundhouse: lacking the political will to pass meaningful public safety legislation, some elected officials relied on false and harmful rhetoric when it came to addressing public safety. Legislative efforts to address crime in New Mexico this year fell far short of measures that decades of research show actually address the root causes of crime in our state. New Mexico could be investing in programs to address substance abuse, provide job opportunities in historically underserved communities and make it easier for people trying to rebuild their lives after a criminal conviction to successfully re-enter society.

Legislators had a chance to do just that through bills that would match court fines and fees with an individual’s ability to pay to break the vicious cycle of poverty, debt and desperation that can lead to crime. Other bills would’ve given people released from prison a chance to successfully and fully re-enter society, including by automatically restoring their right to vote.

Those bills, however, died from a lack of time and political will in the Roundhouse.

Instead, our legislators reached for costly, antiquated and failed policies focused on throwing as many people as possible in jail, for as long as possible. For example, an effort to roll back bail reform and impose pretrial detention would have risked holding innocent people in jail and had virtually zero impact on public safety. That bill thankfully failed when it was confronted with facts and evidence, but not all harmful bills were stopped.

Legislators created new additions to the criminal code for actions largely already covered by existing crimes, inflating our bloated criminal legal system. Likewise, harsher penalties won’t deter crime or help victims and will instead only make rehabilitation and re-entry harder – at taxpayers’ expense. Evidence has shown the harsh consequences of the criminal legal system drive economic insecurity and substance abuse, leading only to more crime and more destabilizing criminal legal consequences. If we are going to build truly safe communities, we cannot continue in this way.

Our communities deserve legislation that actually addresses the root causes of crime and works to make us and our families safer in the long term through creative and compassionate interventions.

With the nationwide increase in crime, New Mexicans deserve better than outdated ideas we know won’t make us safer. And with the reality of limited resources, we cannot afford to keep throwing money at policies that will not solve the problem.

We demand better from our legislators and our candidates. With the 2022 elections upon us, they must all resist the urge to play on fear and parrot lines supporting wasteful and harmful policies.

New Mexicans need real, evidence-based solutions that build a safer, more equitable New Mexico for us all, and elected officials who have the courage to get us there.

Our lives and futures depend on it. We cannot accept anything less.