Group looks at crime from several angles

Task force composed of key people in criminal justice system gathers for first time to tackle social issues

ALBUQUERQUE — Some of the biggest movers and shakers involved in criminal justice in New Mexico gathered for the first time Thursday to launch a series of discussions on how to improve the state’s public safety system.

State legislators, government officials, lawyers and judges on a newly convened task force met at the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. Among them were state Corrections Secretary David Jablonski and Bernalillo County District Attorney Raúl Torrez, as well as the deputy secretaries of the Children, Youth and Families Department and the Department of Public Safety.

“This room is filled with experts who have never sat around a table before to talk about these issues,” retired Chief Justice Edward Chavez, who is leading the group, told The New Mexican in an interview.

A bipartisan memorial passed by the Legislature earlier this year called for a comprehensive task force to identify the state’s top criminal justice concerns.

Chavez called the memorial a rallying cry of sorts for different state agencies to come together.

“A light bulb went off,” he said, “and they thought to themselves, ‘You know, this is the right thing to do. We do need to improve public safety.’ ”

The idea, he said, is to create an “inter-branch” approach to addressing issues such as rising crime rates, substance abuse, behavioral health concerns and the strained budgets of various agencies.

“That is very important,” Chavez said of the joint approach. “If the judiciary, the Legislature and the executive cannot reach an agreement, nothing is going to come of it.”

The group is tasked with drafting a report on key problems in the criminal justice system and recommendations on how to fix them. It is expected to submit its report to the Legislature by mid-October.

Representatives of various agencies brought their own concerns to the table Thursday.

Jablonski mentioned the state’s high recidivism rates and drug use within the prison system.

Torrez said he has been looking into the effect that childhood trauma has on a person’s behavior and tendency to engage in crime, and how the criminal justice system can address that.

“One of the questions we’re going to start looking at is: What obligation do we have to make sure that the next

generation does not follow that parent … into prison?” Torrez said.

Chavez raised concerns about the length of time it takes to prosecute cases in New Mexico. The national standard is to ensure that 98 percent of felony cases are heard in court within one year, he said, adding: “We don’t come close to meeting that standard.”

Other concerns include addressing mental illness within prisons and jails, improving the efficiency of the Probation and Parole Division and figuring out how to dedicate sufficient funding for police departments, prosecutors, defense attorneys and courts.

Albuquerque’s climbing crime rates were a prominent topic at the meeting.

Terri Cole, president of the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, told the group that rising crime rates in the state’s largest city have “absolutely devastated” the growth of the business community.

“You cannot create a vibrant economic development environment, with the quality of life that everyone expects in order to raise families, if you don’t have a safe place for people to live and work,” she said.

Researchers from the state’s Legislative Finance Committee presented some of their ongoing research into the Bernalillo County criminal justice system. Among their findings:

The county’s violent crime and property crime rates have climbed dramatically since 2010, even as crime rates across the U.S. are, in general, declining.

Despite a bigger spotlight in recent years on Albuquerque’s rate of about 80 crimes per 1,000 people in 2016, that city ranked only fifth in the state for its crime rate. Española and Taos were among the cities with more crimes per capita.

According to the National Institute of Justice: “The swiftness and certainty of being caught is a vastly more powerful deterrent than the punishment.”

The task force’s next meeting is scheduled for May at the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce.

In addition to analyzing public safety and criminal justice data, and identifying the most prominent problems and possible solutions, state Sen. Cisco McSorley also hammered home the need to determine the price tag of any recommendations.

“We need to start preparing the general public. Criminal justice reform is expensive at the front end,” McSorley said. “The only difference is you have fewer dead people at the end, fewer victims of crime, fewer burglaries.”