ALBUQUERQUE, NM — While overall crime is trending downward, juvenile crime is trending upward.

That’s the claim fueling Second Judicial District Attorney Sam Bregman’s effort to rewrite the laws governing New Mexico’s juvenile justice system.

“At the end of the day, there will be consequences for not punishing young people for murder. “I want them to know that the first time they get in trouble, there are going to be consequences,” Bregman told a room full of state lawmakers during a meeting of the Courts, Corrections and Justice committee.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham began pursuing juvenile crime after appointing Bregman in 2023. I focused on weapons.

According to Bregman’s office, youth gun crimes increased 57% from 2022 to 2023.

However, in the first ten months of 2024, there was a 37.5 percent decrease in firearm crimes against children compared to the same period in 2023.

“2022 was still at the tail end of the pandemic… I think we had a lot of kids who weren’t even in school at the time,” Bregman said. “I can’t attribute it (the decrease) to any one thing, but I know it’s still very much going on.”

During the recent decline in child gun violence, Bregman launched an education campaignwe’re taking this campaign to students in schools in Albuquerque.

Also Governor He issued a Public Health Order against gun violence. The order ordered the automatic detention of children accused of armed crimes.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Children, Youth and Families said the order led to about 10% more juvenile detentions statewide.

Bregman’s courtroom counterpart, New Mexico Chief Public Defender Bennet Baur, wants the same thing. Baur wants to deter young people from committing serious crimes later.

But he has a very different perspective on how to achieve this goal.

“We must tell them about the dangers. I think this is very important. But that doesn’t necessarily happen through incarceration,” Baur said.

Juvenile crime statistics provided by the Public Defender Law Office show that most juvenile crimes are decreasing. Armed robbery, criminal sexual intercourse, shooting into a motor vehicle or dwelling, and aggravated battery have trended downward recently.

However, statistics also show that child murders have increased since 2019. At the same time, child car theft has increased dramatically.

“My concern is that we’re making decisions based solely on numbers that look at what’s going on during COVID,” Baur said. “As these numbers decrease, and naturally as crime decreases, many children will remain in custody and many people will remain in prison.”

4 The researcher asked Bregman:

RYAN LAUGHLIN: “Are you concerned that we’re taking too narrow a snapshot in time and anticipating a return to normal?”

SAM BREGMAN: “No. Like hell. I’m going to tell you because it’s not just young people we’re talking about here. When you look at the population between the ages of 18-25, you see that gun crimes continue to increase. There are too many. “And what we see is that when we convict people of murder at age 25 and look at their juvenile criminal records, there are no consequences.”

Bregman’s proposed changes to the Children’s Act are far-reaching. After all, Only a few MPs will decide whether Bregman’s proposals will actually advance in January’s General Assembly.

“We can reach a statistical agreement where we fall and that’s great. We should applaud all of this,” Bregman said. “But that still doesn’t mean that the juvenile criminal code is currently updated as it should be.”