Siscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared
by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance committees of
the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the
accuracy of these reports if they are used for other purposes.
Current FIRs (in
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whereas HTML versions may not.
Previously issued FIRs and attachments may be obtained from the LFC in
|
SPONSOR |
Park |
DATE TYPED |
|
HB |
215 |
||
|
SHORT
TITLE |
Life Imprisonment for Repeat Offenders |
SB |
|
||||
|
|
ANALYST |
Reynolds-Forte |
|||||
APPROPRIATION
|
Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
||
|
FY04 |
FY05 |
FY04 |
FY05 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Substantial--See Narrative |
Recurring |
General
Fund |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Parenthesis
( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
LFC Files
Responses
Received From
Corrections
Department
Administrative
Office of the Courts
Attorney
General’s Office
Juvenile
Parole Board
Public
Defender
Health
Department
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 215 amends existing criminal law by
providing life imprisonment without parole for persons convicted of three
violent felonies or two violent sexual offenses. Incarceration would be for the entirety of
their natural lives.
House Bill 215 strikes current language which
outlines the Parole Board’s responsibility and requirements for inmates convicted
of these crimes.
Significant Issues
Under current law, all persons sentenced to
life imprisonment based on conviction of three violent felonies or two violent
sexual offenses may be considered for parole by the Parole Board after serving
thirty years. Current law requires the
Parole Board to interview the inmate and consider all pertinent information
including violence and circumstances of the crime, physical and mental
examination reports and the impact on society.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
Because House
Bill 215 converts previous 30-year life sentences to natural life, the prison
population of those who are sentenced to spend the entirety of their natural
life in the
There is no appropriation for the increase in
prison population for the Department in later years, particularly for the
likely additional medical costs of older prisoners.
The
contract/private prison annual costs of incarcerating an inmate based upon
Fiscal Year 03 actual expenditures is $20.7 thousand per year for males. The cost per client to house a female inmate
at a privately operated facility is $26.3 thousand per year. Because state owned prisons are essentially
at capacity, any net increase in inmate population will be housed at a contract/private
facility.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
In the long term, the bill could increase
administrative burdens to the Corrections Department substantially as a result
of a larger and older prison population of violent offenders.
The Public Defender’s Office believes that
their case loads could increase with passage of House Bill 215. They believe that when a defendant in a
criminal case faces the possibility of a mandatory life imprisonment term, few
will be willing to enter into negotiated pleas, thus increasing the time and
difficulty of such cases. More of these
cases will go to trial. At this time,
the Public Defender’s Office is unable to estimate the number of additional
felony attorneys it would need to handle the increased caseload, plus support
staff, including investigator and social workers.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
The Corrections
Department believes the bill would deter a small group of inmates with prior
qualifying convictions who face life sentences with a third. Prisoners already incarcerated for two
violent felonies or one violent sexual felony may be deterred from committing
such a crime in prison.
PR/njw:lg