Legislative report: New Mexico’s juvenile justice system seeing high repeat referrals

SANTA FE — The number of youthful offenders referred to New Mexico’s juvenile justice system has declined over the last 20 years due to an increased emphasis on community service and rehabilitation.

But many young state residents who run afoul of the law end up being cycled back to the system due in part to a shortage of behavioral health and treatment services, a new legislative report found.

Over the past 11 years, about 58% of the roughly 113,000 referrals to the state’s juvenile justice system during that time period were re-referrals, according to the report released Tuesday by the Legislative Finance Committee. The remaining referrals were first-time referrals.

Several lawmakers expressed concern about the trend and about a recent uptick in overall juvenile justice referrals in New Mexico following the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We want to prevent them from being an adult who commits a crime,” said Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences, who also questioned why juveniles are allowed to refuse mental health treatment and other types of services.

Overall, the legislative report found that 86% of juvenile offenders in New Mexico who are committed to state-run facilities had four or more previous adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. The state has one of the nation’s highest rates of children with such traumatic experiences.

In addition, about one-third of New Mexico children charged in the juvenile justice system during a recent 11-year period had previous involvement with the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department’s child protective services system, which responds to instances of abuse and neglect.

Acting CYFD Secretary Valerie Sandoval said her agency is seeking to work closely with legislators to address such troubling trends.

She also said CYFD uses a tool to determine whether juvenile offenders should be assigned to treatment services or sent to a secure state-run facility for rehabilitation. The agency currently has 29 juvenile probation and parole offices around the state, and operates secure facilities in Albuquerque and Las Cruces. Four counties also operate juvenile detention centers.

“We are not detaining low-risk juveniles, and we are not releasing high-risk juveniles on their own accord,” said Sandoval, who was named acting CYFD secretary in September by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The report comes as New Mexico lawmakers are poised to consider changes to the state’s juvenile criminal code during the 30-day legislative session that starts in January.

During this year’s session, legislators debated but did not ultimately approve a youthful offender bill that critics said did not go far enough to address a recent increase in violent crime involving juveniles.

Overall, CYFD officials said Tuesday the agency has a current caseload of 2,349 juveniles. Those minors were referred after facing charges ranging from misdemeanors like drug use, assault and shoplifting to more serious felony charges like carrying a weapon on school grounds and battery upon a peace officer.

In addition, there were 631 juveniles detained for firearm-related offenses from September 2023 until present, Sandoval said.

Rep. Mark Duncan, R-Kirtland, said that as juvenile crime rates increase, more youthful offenders could end up entering the state’s adult correctional system.

He also expressed concern about the price tag for holding juvenile offenders in state-run facilities, which is currently about $345,000 per year.

“We can graduate a kid from Harvard for the same amount it costs to hold them in one of these facilities for one year,” Duncan said.

The cost is far less to provide counseling and other types of juvenile delinquency programming, the report found, and New Mexico shifted in the 2000s to a model that prioritizes such treatment for less serious juvenile offenses.

However, the state lost an estimated 1,500 behavioral health providers between 2022 and 2024, despite lawmakers increasing Medicaid provider rates. State officials have said the number of providers has increased since then.

In addition, a $20 million legislative appropriation in 2022 aimed at expanding behavioral health services for children has been at the center of a recent investigation into whether the money was improperly spent.

The Legislative Finance Committee report highlighted those developments in particular, while asserting the state has a lack of available behavioral health and treatment services for youth and families.

Overall, CYFD spent roughly $78 million last year on juvenile justice, primarily on staffing to operate the state-run facilities and probation offices.