Albuquerque’s crime problems improve when affordable housing is addressed, not by instituting more severe penalties and longer jail sentences for offenders. That was the message a coalition of community advocates delivered to lawmakers during a virtual news conference held ahead of the New Mexico Legislature’s 30-day session which convened in Santa Fe today.

Members of the New Mexico SAFE coalition – which includes homeless advocates, legal experts and drug policy and juvenile justice reformers – said so-called “tough on crime” legislation and accompanying rhetoric may help calm the public’s nerves in the short term, but doesn’t solve long term problems.

“Mass incarceration is not the answer,” Nayomi Valdez, the director of public policy at the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, said at the Jan. 11 event. “It’s the opposite. It often increases crime rates and feeds into a cycle of recidivism.”

Valdez said chatter in the Roundhouse often takes the form of a “lock ‘em up” mentality that’s counterproductive. She cited pretrial detention legislation sponsored by Sen. Craig Brandt, R-Sandoval, designed to create a “rebuttable presumption” for persons charged with serious, largely violent offenses. The legislation states that unless rebutted by “clear and convincing evidence,” a defendant that poses a safety threat can be held in custody pending trial. A similar bill proposed last year was postponed indefinitely.

“It’s about putting folks in jail for various things,” Valdez said. “The theme is already taking a ‘tough on crime’ approach – [like] cracking down on juvenile violence.”

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham released her legislative public safety agenda Jan. 12. While much of it pertains to gun control, it also includes a panhandling ban and increased criminal penalties. Valdez said the energy of the session would be better focused on passing housing and behavioral health initiatives.

The governor’s Department of Finance and Administration is recommending $540 billion to address housing instability and homelessness.

‘Support, not punishment’

Coalition member Emily Kaltenbach said that while those who abuse drugs sometimes commit crimes, it should be primarily treated as a health issue. Albuquerque-area doctors who specialize in addiction, she said, often tell her that underlying issues related to drug abuse typically stem from generational poverty, severe trauma and homelessness.

“We turn to criminalization and punishment, which leaves people with criminal records and more barriers, more harm, more isolation,” Kaltenbach, the senior director of state advocacy and criminal legal reform for the Drug Policy Alliance, said. “People who are suffering need support, not punishment.”

Rachel Biggs, the chief strategy officer for Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless, agreed and said housing is “an investment that will last for generations.”

“It doesn’t make sense to use time, money and effort on criminalization that doesn’t make communities safer,” she said. “Affordable housing creates a safer environment for everyone in the community.”

Biggs said the homelessness problem in Albuquerque is primarily a housing problem. 

“Affordable housing, health care, education, a good income – things you need to live a life with dignity – that’s the better investment,” she said. “Criminalizing homelessness is ineffective and won’t solve the problem.”

Biggs said the city’s homeless population is often perceived as one that violates laws or commits crimes, but that they are often the victims of crime.

‘False choice’

When the coalition was asked to respond to the argument that law enforcement must crack down on crime or it would be out of control, Valdez said it’s a “false choice.” However, she said she understands why people believe law enforcement and putting people behind bars increase public safety.

“Being ‘tough on crime’ will not make us safer,” Valdez said. “The notion that incarceration prevents crime is factually untrue. High rates of incarceration lead to more crime. All of the systems that are used in ‘tough on crime’ approaches are not working.”

Biggs said the city’s Albuquerque Community Safety (ACS) program is a welcome addition for situations that police and first responders were previously called to handle. ACS is staffed with behavioral/mental health and social service workers who respond to 911 dispatch calls for nonviolent and nonmedical situations across the city. 

“When we can decrease the involvement of law enforcement it’s better for the community, especially when it’s a social services need,” Biggs said. “When it’s a public safety issue, that’s a different leg of the stool.”

Chief public defender Bennett Baur of the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender, said the law enforcement approach to social issues should be “do no harm.” He has advocated on criminal justice issues in the legislature for decades.

“Are there people that need to be charged for hurting others? There are definitely things that need to be done,” Baur said. “But when you use it for the use of drugs – charged, jailed and sent to prison for the use of drugs – that usually makes things worse.”

Legislative optimism

Kaltenbach said she’s hopeful that additional revenues from oil and gas and the state’s cannabis excise tax will help fund drug treatments and affordable housing initiatives. She’d like to see, for example, an increase in outpatient medication-assisted treatments for juvenile offenders with substance abuse problems instead of more penalties.

The coalition is encouraged by early legislative support for $550 million that would be directed to affordable housing programs and homelessness initiatives; it mirrors key aspects of Lujan Grisham’s budget requests.

Other solutions the coalition proposed is a permanent subsidy for the New Mexico Human Services Department’s Linkages supportive housing program, and state-funded incentives to adequately staff behavioral health specialist positions in order to counter long wait times, especially for juvenile offenders.