The ACLU of New Mexico, along with partners, is prioritizing holistic solutions in juvenile justice — because we know these are the approaches that are safest and most effective for our communities. Across the state, we’re seeing pushes on both sides of the aisle to increase sentences and expand punishment for young people. But kids have tremendous capacity for change and rehabilitation — and longer sentences and harsher punishment aren’t just ineffective; they’re harmful.
The people most impacted by this system have always known what works. Our efforts are rooted in their lived experiences — and in elevating the voices of families, young people, and advocates who are closest to the issues. We’ll be producing our own videos and written stories in partnership with impacted families and youth — amplifying their voices and ideas for solutions.
The Torch sat down with ACLU-NM Senior Staff Attorney Jazmyn Taitingfong and Policy Advocate Daniel Williams, who have spent years working alongside young people and families navigating New Mexico’s juvenile justice system, to talk about what young people actually need — and what’s at stake if we get this wrong.
Maria Archuleta: Why do so many elected leaders keep going back to harsh sentences for youth when we know it doesn’t work?
Jazmyn Taitingfong: There’s a lack of education and real understanding of what we’ve learned about a child’s brain and how criminality drops off as they get older. There are studies now showing that even one day in detention for a child can cause serious trauma that leads to behavioral problems and higher dropout rates. We can connect that science to best practices that we know work — but too many decision-makers aren’t making that connection.
Daniel Williams: For some of our politicians, there’s a sense that appearing tough on crime will always win you an election. Saying “lock them up” is a simple soundbite you can put on social media and get some votes. We know the situation is much more complicated than that, but there’s always this political instinct to make things as simple as possible, even if that makes them wrong.
It’s really disappointing to see this regression now, because our state has proven that we have the vision and the will to really invest in our communities. We are the first state in the country to have universal childcare, and our legislature has made huge investments to improve access to behavioral health. All of those are steps in the right direction. But we hamstring those efforts when we regress into hyper-punitive attacks on the well-being of young people and families.
Maria: What are parents who have watched their kids go through the system telling you? What did their children actually need that they didn’t get?
Daniel: One thing I’ve heard consistently from parents is how many attempts they made to access care and support before things reached a crisis point — and how heartbroken, frustrated, and angry they are that those resources were not available to them. They knew what their child needed. But the lack of access, the maze of red tape, the barriers that have existed for far too long for far too many New Mexico families meant they weren’t getting that support, and now these families are bearing the consequences.
Jazmyn: Many times I saw parents try to get their children access to mental healthcare, but it was just not available. In a moment of crisis, they thought law enforcement was the only place to call. And so the child entered the juvenile carceral system. I’ve seen parents go into court and say, “I don’t want them involved with the system, but I need help. They need these resources.”
Sometimes once a child is involved in the system, they may be getting what are described as services, but that doesn’t mean they’re actually addressing the needs the child really has. Detention often exacerbates mental health issues and makes things worse — sometimes the acting out is a manifestation of those issues to begin with.
Saying “lock them up” is a simple soundbite you can put on social media and get some votes. We know the situation is much more complicated than that, but there’s always this political instinct to make things as simple as possible, even if that makes them wrong.
Maria: What does real accountability actually look like?
Jazmyn: It means looking at each child as an individual person and looking at their individual experiences. It’s important to really assess the facts of what happened, the seriousness of the offense, and understand what can be most helpful for that specific child. And to understand that punishment is not the aim of the juvenile code. The aim is rehabilitation — and we know that approach reduces recidivism and keeps communities safer.
Daniel: We’re seeing a resurgence of interest in restorative justice, and that’s a really promising direction. I know of one middle school in Albuquerque that set a goal of zero suspensions and responds to harm restoratively. Having pathways that can meaningfully address harm and rebuild communities, without throwing kids away or treating kids as disposable — that’s how we’re actually going to move forward.
Jazmyn: And restorative justice is beneficial to both the child and the victim. When we look at punishment, the type of involvement a victim may have in the system may not actually be helpful to them — it can inflict further trauma. Restorative practices are helpful not just for the child, but for the victim, the victim’s family, and the community as a whole.
Maria: Is there anything you want New Mexicans to understand about who these young people are and what they’re capable of?
Daniel: Young people have a unique capacity to grow and change. The mistakes they make at 14, 15, 16 should not — and do not — define who they are for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, the way our so-called justice system is built, system involvement all too often leads to exactly that outcome. That’s unfair to the young people, and it’s unfair to our community — because we are not getting the benefit of these incredible people who should be recognized as full members of our community.
Jazmyn: Children believe what we tell them. If we are constantly telling kids they are bad kids, that they can’t do better, we’re planting those ideas when we should be helping them think about the opportunities they have to grow — because they want to grow. And we need to hear from them directly. Policymakers have outdated ideas of what childhood right now actually looks like. Young people should have a voice in shaping what it looks like to invest in them.
Children believe what we tell them. If we are constantly telling kids they are bad kids, that they can’t do better, we’re planting those ideas when we should be helping them think about the opportunities they have to grow — because they want to grow.
Maria: What’s at stake for New Mexico families if we don’t change course?
Daniel: We have seen from years of experience in New Mexico how much of a cycle these harms are — the kids we failed when they were in 2nd grade grow up to be the adults we’re incarcerating. They grow up to have kids whom we fail again. We know that adverse childhood experiences are predictive for a ton of difficult experiences later in life — and that people in New Mexico have far higher than the national average numbers of adverse childhood experiences. Breaking that cycle means investing in young people, in families, in schools, and good jobs. It means recognizing that having an incarcerated parent is itself an adverse childhood experience. Children are growing up in the world that we as adults have built for them. We have a responsibility to do better.
Jazmyn: The juvenile carceral system is really the end of the road and the culmination of all of these failures we have as a society — lack of education, lack of mental healthcare, lack of other types of healthcare. They compound and force people into these systems, and then it’s hard to get out. If we have resources on the front end, we can avoid people being involved at all. Children are our future. We need to invest in kids and families because these are the people who will be leading us.