Vetoed by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass an amended bill that amends probation and parole procedures.

Highlights:

• Establishes that the total period of probation for district court cannot be longer than 5 years and the total period of probation for the magistrate or metropolitan courts cannot be longer than the maximum allowable incarceration time for the offense at the time of sentencing unless provided otherwise by law or cases involving sex offenders (Sec. 1).

• Requires the court to consult a validated risk and needs assessment while deliberating on the conditions of probation if so provided by the corrections department (Sec. 1).

• Establishes that after one year of supervised probation, an individual placed on supervised probation by a district or magistrate court judge will have 30 days of their supervised probation changed to unsupervised probation for every 30 days served without a probation violation (Sec. 1).

• Requires the treatment of those with criminal offenses to be contextualized by their individual characteristics, circumstances, and assessment of risk and needs and that these individuals will be dealt with in the community by a uniformly organized system of constructive rehabilitation under probation supervision, as opposed to in an institution or under parole supervision when a period of institutional treatment seems important for the maintenance of public safety and their own welfare (Sec. 2).

• Requires the corrections department to (Sec. 2):

• Use validated risk and needs assessments and principles of effective intervention in their implementation of probation and parole supervision;

• Focus supervision resources on the first period of release or placement on probation;

• Recommend and implement conditions that involve cognitive-behavioral programming; and

• Respond to positive and negative behavior by probationationers and parolees under supervision through a consistent system of incentives and graduated sanctions. 

• Amends the definition of “absconding” to mean an individual under supervision that deliberately makes their whereabouts unknown to the individual’s probation or parole officer or fails to report for the purposes of avoiding supervision, and reasonable efforts by the probation and parole officer to locate the individual have been unsuccessful (Sec. 3).

• Defines “non-technical violation” as absconding or arrest for a new felony or misdemeanor (Sec. 3).

• Requires the director of the adult probation and parole division of the corrections department or an employee designated by the director, to prepare a presentence report with the state personal identification number, victim impact information, record of prior convictions and the results of any validated risk and needs assessments that may have been administered, and such other information as requested by the court, if the court orders the director to do so (Sec. 4).

• Establishes that inmates with life imprisonment sentences become eligible for parole hearings after they serve 30 years of their sentences (Sec. 5).

• Specifies that inmates with life imprisonment sentences who are denied parole will become entitled to a parole hearing every 2 years (Sec. 5).

• Requires inmates with life imprisonment sentences who are granted parole to undergo parole for at least 5 years, unless the parole board believes that it is in the best interest of society and the parolee to decrease the parole time period (Sec. 5).

• Requires inmates with a first, second, or third degree felony and who have served their sentence of imprisonment for more than a year or have agreed and been ordered to serve a period of parole by the court, to undergo parole for 2 years (Sec. 5).

• Requires inmates with a fourth degree felony and who have served their sentence of imprisonment for more than a year or have agreed and been ordered to serve a period of parole by the court, to undergo parole for one year (Sec. 5).

• Authorizes a defendant to waive their supervised parole fees if the parole board holds an evidentiary hearing and determines that the defendant is not able to afford the costs (Sec. 5).

• Establishes that the provisions of these highlights will apply to all inmates except geriatric, permanently incapacitated, and terminally ill inmates who are eligible for the medical and geriatric parole program (Sec. 5).

• Defines “intensive supervision programs” as programs that provide highly structured and intense supervision, with stringent reporting requirements, of certain individuals who represent an excessively high assessment of risk of violation of probation or parole, emphasize meaningful rehabilitative activities and reasonable alternatives without seriously increasing the risk of recidivist crime, and facilitate the payment of restitution by the offender to the victim (Sec. 6).

• Requires the corrections department to implement and operate intensive supervision programs in various local communities (Sec. 6).

• Authorizes the parole board to continue or revoke parole, impose detention for a fixed term of up to ninety days, or enter any other order when the board establishes that a parolee committed a non-technical violation (Sec. 7). 

• Defines “probationer” as a person convicted of a crime by a court and released without imprisonment under a suspended or deferred sentence and subject to conditions (Sec. 8).

• Authorizes the court to continue or revoke probation, impose detention for a fixed term of up to ninety days, or enter any other order when the board establishes that a parolee committed a non-technical violation (Sec. 8). 

• Requires, if a technical violation is established in front of the court at a technical violation hearing, the penalty for the technical violation to be commensurate with the seriousness of the violation and not a punishment for the offense for which the probationer was placed on probation (Sec. 8). 

• Requires the corrections department to create, maintain, and fully implement an incentives and sanctions system to guide responses to negative and positive behavior by probationers and parolees supervised by the department, and will (Sec. 10):

• Provide information and training on the system for probation and parole officers, supervisors, and members and staff of the board;

• Provide information and training on the system to judges, prosecution and defense attorneys, law enforcement personnel, detention center personnel, contracted service providers and other interested personnel;

• Review the system at minimum every five years to make sure that it adheres to evidence-based practices and the use of penalties and incentives by probation and parole officers is consistent throughout New Mexico;

• Ensure that the guidance and procedures of the system take community safety and the needs of the victim and offender into account;

• Gather data concerning the placement decisions based on the systems; and

• Provide a report on the collected data to the appropriate legislative interim committee dealing with courts, corrections, and justice issues every two years.

• Specifies that the incentives and sanctions system will apply to individuals whose probation or parole commences after the effective date of this 2019 act and to all individuals on probation or parole on the effective date of this 2019 act (Sec. 10).

• Specifies that the provisions of Section 5 apply to individuals serving or commencing a term of incarceration on or after January 1, 2020 (Sec. 13).

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that amends probation and parole procedures.

Highlights:

• Establishes that the total period of probation for district court cannot be longer than 5 years and the total period of probation for the magistrate or metropolitan courts cannot be longer than the maximum allowable incarceration time for the offense at the time of sentencing unless provided otherwise by law or cases involving sex offenders (Sec. 1).

• Requires the court to consult a validated risk and needs assessment while deliberating on the conditions of probation if so provided by the corrections department (Sec. 1).

• Establishes that after one year of supervised probation, an individual placed on supervised probation by a district or magistrate court judge will have 30 days of their supervised probation changed to unsupervised probation for every 30 days served without a probation violation (Sec. 1).

• Requires the treatment of those with criminal offenses to be contextualized by their individual characteristics, circumstances, and assessment of risk and needs and that these individuals will be dealt with in the community by a uniformly organized system of constructive rehabilitation under probation supervision, as opposed to in an institution or under parole supervision when a period of institutional treatment seems important for the maintenance of public safety and their own welfare (Sec. 2).

• Requires the corrections department to (Sec. 2):

• Use validated risk and needs assessments and principles of effective intervention in their implementation of probation and parole supervision;

• Focus supervision resources on the first period of release or placement on probation;

• Recommend and implement conditions that involve cognitive-behavioral programming; and

• Respond to positive and negative behavior by probationationers and parolees under supervision through a consistent system of incentives and graduated sanctions. 

• Amends the definition of “absconding” to mean an individual under supervision that deliberately makes their whereabouts unknown to the individual’s probation or parole officer or fails to report for the purposes of avoiding supervision, and reasonable efforts by the probation and parole officer to locate the individual have been unsuccessful (Sec. 3).

• Defines “non-technical violation” as absconding or arrest for a new felony or misdemeanor (Sec. 3).

• Requires the director of the adult probation and parole division of the corrections department or an employee designated by the director, to prepare a presentence report with the state personal identification number, victim impact information, record of prior convictions and the results of any validated risk and needs assessments that may have been administered, and such other information as requested by the court, if the court orders the director to do so (Sec. 4).

• Establishes that inmates with life imprisonment sentences become eligible for parole hearings after they serve 30 years of their sentences (Sec. 5).

• Specifies that inmates with life imprisonment sentences who are denied parole will become entitled to a parole hearing every 2 years (Sec. 5).

• Requires inmates with life imprisonment sentences who are granted parole to undergo parole for at least 5 years, unless the parole board believes that it is in the best interest of society and the parolee to decrease the parole time period (Sec. 5).

• Requires inmates with a first, second, or third degree felony and who have served their sentence of imprisonment for more than a year or have agreed and been ordered to serve a period of parole by the court, to undergo parole for 2 years (Sec. 5).

• Requires inmates with a fourth degree felony and who have served their sentence of imprisonment for more than a year or have agreed and been ordered to serve a period of parole by the court, to undergo parole for one year (Sec. 5).

• Authorizes a defendant to waive their supervised parole fees if the parole board holds an evidentiary hearing and determines that the defendant is not able to afford the costs (Sec. 5).

• Establishes that the provisions of these highlights will apply to all inmates except geriatric, permanently incapacitated, and terminally ill inmates who are eligible for the medical and geriatric parole program (Sec. 5).

• Defines “intensive supervision programs” as programs that provide highly structured and intense supervision, with stringent reporting requirements, of certain individuals who represent an excessively high assessment of risk of violation of probation or parole, emphasize meaningful rehabilitative activities and reasonable alternatives without seriously increasing the risk of recidivist crime, and facilitate the payment of restitution by the offender to the victim (Sec. 6).

• Requires the corrections department to implement and operate intensive supervision programs in various local communities (Sec. 6).

• Authorizes the parole board to continue or revoke parole, impose detention for a fixed term of up to ninety days, or enter any other order when the board establishes that a parolee committed a non-technical violation (Sec. 7). 

• Defines “probationer” as a person convicted of a crime by a court and released without imprisonment under a suspended or deferred sentence and subject to conditions (Sec. 8).

• Authorizes the court to continue or revoke probation, impose detention for a fixed term of up to ninety days, or enter any other order when the board establishes that a parolee committed a non-technical violation (Sec. 8). 

• Requires, if a technical violation is established in front of the court at a technical violation hearing, the penalty for the technical violation to be commensurate with the seriousness of the violation and not a punishment for the offense for which the probationer was placed on probation (Sec. 8). 

• Requires the corrections department to create, maintain, and fully implement an incentives and sanctions system to guide responses to negative and positive behavior by probationers and parolees supervised by the department, and will (Sec. 10):

• Provide information and training on the system for probation and parole officers, supervisors, and members and staff of the board;

• Provide information and training on the system to judges, prosecution and defense attorneys, law enforcement personnel, detention center personnel, contracted service providers and other interested personnel;

• Review the system at minimum every five years to make sure that it adheres to evidence-based practices and the use of penalties and incentives by probation and parole officers is consistent throughout New Mexico;

• Ensure that the guidance and procedures of the system take community safety and the needs of the victim and offender into account;

• Gather data concerning the placement decisions based on the systems; and

• Provide a report on the collected data to the appropriate legislative interim committee dealing with courts, corrections, and justice issues every two years.

• Specifies that the incentives and sanctions system will apply to individuals whose probation or parole commences after the effective date of this 2019 act and to all individuals on probation or parole on the effective date of this 2019 act (Sec. 10).

• Specifies that the provisions of Section 5 apply to individuals serving or commencing a term of incarceration on or after January 1, 2020 (Sec. 13).

Full Bill Text