After noting that New Mexico had the highest property crime rate and the second highest violent crime rate in the nation as of 2016, this report outlines the plan initiated by New Mexico 's government leaders in 2018, under requested guidance from the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew), to contain corrections spending and reinvest in strategies that can reduce recidivism, improve responses to criminal behavior, and increase public safety.
In the summer of 2018, representatives of the executive and legislative branches of New Mexico's government requested support from BJA and Pew in exploring a Justice Reinvestment strategy for addressing the state's pulic safety challenges. As public-private partners in the federal Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI), BJA and Pew approved New Mexico state leaders' request and asked The Council of State Governments (CSC) Justice Center to provide intensive technical assistance. Justice Center staff will assist in collecting and analyzing data and in developing appropriate policy options for containing corrections spending and achieving reinvestment in strategies that can reduce recidivism and improve responses to crime. After documenting trends in New Mexico's criminal justice system, this report outlines the Justice Reinvestment approach. The first step is to analyze data and develop policy options. The second step is to adopt new policies and put reinvestment strategies in place; and the third step is to measure performance. The activities involved in each of these three steps are described.