DA Bregman laments legislature's inaction on juvenile crime

What did the 2025 legislative session do to better protect New Mexicans from violent juvenile crime?

Next to nothing, says Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, who on Monday voiced frustration about what he described as inaction by the majority of state lawmakers during the recently-concluded 60-day legislative session.

“They didn’t do anything to try to move the needle,” Bregman told the Journal. “Nothing.”

Lawmakers did approve legislation to make it a crime to possess weapon conversion devices or “Glock switches,” as a way to target rising juvenile gun crimes, he said.

And the session did produce reforms in criminal competency and new public safety laws tackling auto theft and fentanyl trafficking.

But dozens of other proposed changes aimed at combating the uptick in juvenile crimes involving firearms went nowhere, Bregman said.

Bregman said he and his staff proposed 36 amendments to the state Children’s Code last October, and sent copies to every legislator for consideration in the session that ended Saturday. But after having five months to digest the changes, he said, “They didn’t even really give it a robust debate.”

“Most of the Legislature didn’t even want to try to change the status quo when it comes to consequences,” Bregman added.

For instance, Bregman said, “If you steal a car in Bernalillo County and you’re caught driving the stolen car, you will not spend one night in Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention. You’ll be taken home to (your family). So what do they learn?”

Bregman said without consequences, the behavior escalates, and sometimes ends up in tragic, deadly consequences where someone in the community is killed.

Near the end of the legislative session, Albuquerque police announced a break in the case of a 63-year-old Sandia National Laboratories physicist Scott Dwight Habermehl, who police say was deliberately hit by a car occupied by three juveniles in May 2024, as he was bicycling to work. Habermehl was fatally injured as the car, which turned out to be stolen, sped away.

Police later discovered a video of the crash recorded from inside the car on social media.

Though bills addressing juvenile crime often had Republican backing this year, Bregman wouldn’t say whether he believe there were “political motivations” by Democrats to block such legislation.

“But collectively, as a group, it is apparent that they thought the status quo is acceptable and it’s not,” he said.

A priority, Bregman said, was a proposed change that would have added rape, committing a drive-by shooting, and other offenses to the list of crimes for which juveniles can be charged as adults. His office also proposed extending the age of possible imprisonment for youthful offenders from 21 to 25 years old and making it a felony for unlawful possession of a firearm.

“The community needs to be protected. What about all the good kids, the innocent people who are getting hurt? Violent juvenile offenders have to have consequences early on so they learn.”

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has warned lawmakers they should expect to be called back for a special session on juvenile crime given the Legislature’s inaction.

Whether a special session would produce substantive change, Bregman said Monday, “I always have hope. I certainly hope the Legislature will come together and actually hear the community. So far, they’ve been tone deaf.”