DA: Most juvenile offenders face few consequences after arrest

Nineteen minors are confined in the Bernalillo County Detention Center on first-degree murder charges. For many, they are the failed products of a juvenile justice system that has taught them they can be arrested, prosecuted and face little to no consequences. Until the day they kill someone. And then it’s too late.

That was the sobering insight from 2nd Judicial District Attorney Sam Bregman, delivered to an interim legislative committee Wednesday.

“There’s so many of these young people that end up committing violence that we’ve seen before in our system,” Bregman told the legislators on the Courts, Corrections and Justice committee.

“I can tell you overall that I believe the adult criminal justice system is starting to see some progress,” he added. “But juvenile crime is going in the absolute wrong direction.”

Bregman is asking legislators in the next regular session, in early 2025, to revise the state’s Children’s Code, which includes juvenile justice laws that were last updated more than 30 years ago.

He presented this scenario:

“Today, a 15-year-old can be driving around with his friends in a stolen car with 10 fentanyl pills and an AR-15.

“And under the current system in Bernalillo County, the way it operates, that juvenile will face little to no consequences. They know you will not spend one single night in detention, you will likely be placed on probation, where there’s not even the requirement under probation that he continue his schooling or that he has a curfew.”

Bregman said that same child will likely continue his or her criminal behavior with “little to no consequences. Not until, and only if, that child commits a crime where a firearm is discharged in the commission of a crime will he spend any time in detention.”

With an increase in the severity of juvenile crimes, the proliferation of firearms, and, in Bernalillo County, a short-staffed detention center that has had to turn away holding minors that officers arrest, Bregman said many young offenders laugh when they are caught and say, “nothing’s going to happen to me.”

He recounted that Tuesday evening he was contacted by a law enforcement agent who detained three minors in a stolen car. The juveniles then ran, but were later apprehended. After finally being caught, Bregman said, “One of them was laughing.” Another wouldn’t give his name, and Bregman said the detention center “won’t even consider accepting the person because they don’t have a name.”

When the detention center on Second NW is so understaffed that officials turn away minors charged with serious crimes, Bregman said law enforcement has little choice but to take them home to their parents.

A former defense attorney, Bregman said, “I’m not into locking up children and throwing away the key. I don’t want to charge another child with first-degree murder.”

Bregman decried how the “pendulum” has “swung so far, we can never have harsh consequences on children when they commit crimes. That what we’re left with is that, at the end of the day, they don’t see any consequences until, God forbid, they kill somebody.

“I respectfully submit that waiting until that happens is simply too late.”

In his past 18 months in office, Bregman said:

• 20 juveniles have been charged with murder, 19 of whom are facing first-degree murder charges.
• A total of 1,221, most felony cases involving juveniles, have been referred to his office, of which 319 involved a handgun.

“I can assure you that this was not the first time these 19 children committed a crime,” Bregman said. “But rather, it may be the first time there will be consequences for their behavior. And now, the consequences will likely be life in prison. We currently have, as of yesterday, 61 juveniles in the detention center in Bernalillo County. Half are charged with murder. More than 90% are charged with gun crimes.”

Bregman said when he grew up in the 1970s, “I messed up sometimes. There were always consequences. I learned that that particular behavior was not acceptable.”

But he added, juvenile probation “and the juvenile system does nothing. ‘Don’t commit another crime; don’t commit another crime.’ That’s what probation is right now. Well, you shouldn’t be committing one to begin with.”