Taos County treatment court focuses on domestic violence

The Taos County Family Violence Court is gearing up for its first batch of graduates since it began in January 2022, one of whom, Henry Samora, recently received a suspended sentence in a vehicular homicide case thanks to his time in the treatment court.

According to 8th Judicial District Magistrate Judge Sara Blankenhorn, the presiding judge over the Family Violence Court, the treatment court was founded to focus on how the criminal justice system in New Mexico deals with domestic violence cases, of which it is annually bombarded with. New Mexico, Blankenhorn added, is ranked second in the nation in domestic homicide, while only around 8 percent of these cases are prosecuted each year.

Over the past three years, Blankenhorn has noticed an estimated annual average of 1,000 callers dialing 911 regarding domestic violence. She furthermore noticed that out of those calls, only 10 percent of them result in criminal cases, and five of those cases result in pleas or convictions. The treatment court seeks to respond to domestic violence with rehabilitation.

“Ideally rehabilitation provides an opportunity for an individual to participate in society free, or as practicably so, from the behaviors that brought them into the criminal justice system,” Blankenhorn said in an email. “In the shorter term, they benefit because they are able to participate in rehabilitation rather than incarceration.”

According to Lawrence Medina, the executive director of Rio Grande Alcoholism Treatment Program in Taos, rehabilitation is more beneficial to offenders than incarceration, and it’s even less expensive. Medina went on to add that offering reintegration programs to inmates proves effective for when it comes time to release them back into the community.

According to a 2015 “Price of Prison” report from the Vera Institute of Justice, a national organization geared to combat mass incarceration and overcriminalization, New Mexico’s prison population that year was 7,167, with an average cost of $36,832 per inmate and a total yearly prison expenditure of $263 million.

“I think people often look at these types of rehabilitative programs as a ‘slap on the wrist,’” Blankenhorn said. “The reality of domestic violence is however, that though it is widespread in our community, only the most severe cases end up with incarceration. The Family Violence Court attempts to address this by providing greater victim safety and offender accountability through intense supervision paired with treatment.”

According to Blankenhorn, participants in the court have made “incredible” progress as they made strides toward the court’s goals of reintegration and personal accountability. To her, promoting rehabilitation will create a safer community. By advocating for safer communities and households, Blankenhorn believes childhood trauma will decrease and furthermore lead to the prevention of future crimes.

Participants are required to complete substance use treatment programs, be involved with a state-approved Batterers Intervention Group for 52 weeks, undergo moral recognition therapy to assist in the development of moral reasoning as well as weekly individual therapy. Some participants are required to use GPS or alcohol monitoring bracelets. Blankenhorn added that the court is “very intensive.”

“Nothing is one-size-fits-all, and not every case will be a success,” Blankenhorn said, “but substantial research exists on behavior modification which treatment courts of all types utilize in their standards and best practices. We demand accountability, honesty and hard work and, in return, participants get the support they need.”

The treatment court maintains a multidisciplinary staff of attorneys, court staff, law enforcement, probation officers, therapists and other mental health workers and social workers. By utilizing a diverse group of professionals, participants in the court are given the resources they need to rehabilitate.

“I expect us to be continuously evolving,” Blankenhorn said, “always striving to balance the various interests the justice system must protect while seeking to better serve the families we represent through the court. Right now, we are working on bolstering services and support for the families and victims. I also hope to see the development of a peer support group as we begin to have participants graduate.”