Bill aimed at lowering the age of ‘serious youthful offenders’ criticized by public defenders, ACLU

A Republican legislator, along with Bernalillo County’s Democratic district attorney, wants to crack down on children charged with violent crimes or those involving guns. Rep. Andrea Reeb, R-Clovis, who’s also a former prosecutor, worked with Second Judicial District Attorney Sam Bregman to craft HB 134, which would essentially lower the age at which a defendant could be charged as an adult.

“As a prosecutor and then district attorney, I’ve seen violent and felony crimes being committed by children and each year the offenders seem to get younger and younger,” Reeb said in a news release. “It’s heartbreaking and dangerous.” 

But Dennica Torres, an Albuquerque attorney with the New New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender, told NM Political Report the bill would undermine the current legal process that allows young criminal defendants to “take accountability without facing adult repercussions for the rest of their lives.” 

The bill aims to lower the age of defendants who can be charged and treated as adults from 15 to 14.

American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico Staff Attorney Denali Wilson called the bill a “backwards approach to juvenile violent crime.”

“If passed, the legislation would fundamentally alter the way our state approaches children involved in crime, ushering in an era of over-incarceration of young people, especially young people of color, which will carry lasting social consequences for generations to come,” Wilson said.

Reeb’s bill could still see an uphill battle. In recent years, House and Senate Democrats have been at odds with Republicans’ and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s attempts to increase criminal penalties.