SANTA FE — Over the last few years, Abby Long and other parents have made a personal appeal to New Mexico legislators on behalf of their kids behind bars.
They have new reason for optimism.
In the early-morning hours Monday, the state House signed off on legislation that would abolish the possibility of a life sentence without parole for someone who committed a serious crime before they turned 18.
It would ensure that juveniles sent to prison would get a parole hearing 15 to 25 years into their sentence, depending on the severity of the underlying conviction. Release wouldn’t be guaranteed, just a parole hearing.
The proposal picked up more support this year among legislators — following the failure of a similar proposal last year — and is now on its way to the desk of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
“A lot of meaningful work has happened in people’s hearts this year,” Long said in an interview.
She was in the gallery as the House took up debate on the proposal about 11 p.m Sunday and adopted the measure at 2:15 a.m. Monday, the last approval necessary to send it to the governor.
The House passed the bill on a 37-25 vote.
“Children are works in progress,” said House Majority Leader Gail Chasey, D-Albuquerque, “and we need sentencing options that leave room for their potential to experience positive transformations.”
Republican lawmakers blasted the proposal. Some crimes, they said, are so heinous that a parole hearing shouldn’t even be possible.
Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park, said the hearings will reopen trauma for families.
“I don’t see how this is good for grieving parents or our community,” she said.
Rep. Andrea Reeb, a Clovis Republican who prosecuted a mass shooting in a Clovis library, said judges already have the discretion they need to determine an appropriate sentence.
Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, called it “horrific legislation.”
In the Senate, six Republicans support the bill. But the House vote was along party lines, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.
A year ago, the proposal died in the House without reaching the floor for a vote by the full chamber.
This year’s proposal makes changes intended to address the opposition. It establishes a tiered schedule of parole hearings based on the severity of the crime, rather than calling for hearings at 15 years across the board.
And this year lawmakers have encountered plenty of advocates in person, including parents speaking about their own children and young adults sharing stories of redemption.
Long figures she’s met just about every lawmaker in the Roundhouse, in some cases, she said, making real connections with lawmakers as they speak about their own families.
Long has a son locked up in the juvenile detention center in Albuquerque for a crime when he was 14. He was charged in connection with a homicide and is set to be released when he turns 21.
But he had initially faced the possibility of a life sentence — particularly troubling, Long said, given the capacity for young teenagers to change.
She said she’s seen growth in her own son in the five years he’s spent in custody.
“He was held accountable in age-appropriate ways,” Long said. “He has graduated high school. He’s now pre-law working on his college degree. He’s an avid basketball player.”
About 75 people would be affected by the bill, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, making them eligible for parole earlier than they would otherwise.
Serving as expert witnesses on the bill were Denali Wilson, a staff attorney at the ACLU, and Carissa McGee, who went to prison at 17 before turning her life around. McGee founded a nonprofit group after her release.
Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, an Albuquerque Democrat and retired law professor, sponsored the bill on the Senate side and sat with the witnesses during the House debate.
If approved by the governor, New Mexico would become the 27th state to end juvenile life sentences without parole, according to the Sentencing Project, an advocacy group.
Long, a social worker in Albuquerque, said it’s important to give people who committed a serious crime between the ages of 14 to 17 a chance to prove they’re worthy of release.
“All kiddos that age are really capable of extremely meaningful change,” Long said.
