SENATE MEMORIAL 47

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2020

INTRODUCED BY

Antoinette Sedillo Lopez

 

 

 

 

 

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO SENTENCING COMMISSION TO CONVENE A TASK FORCE TO REVIEW DATA COLLECTION ON RACE AND ETHNICITY IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IN THE STATE AND TO RECOMMEND A POLICY FOR THE STANDARDIZED COLLECTION OF THIS DATA ACROSS STATE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEMS.

 

     WHEREAS, numerous studies across the United States have found that racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented throughout the criminal justice system, whether as those arrested, those incarcerated in the nation's prisons and jails or those constituting its probation and parole populations; and

     WHEREAS, a recent urban institute study of state criminal justice data showed that only forty states reported race data, and only fifteen reported ethnicity data; and

     WHEREAS, the same urban institute study noted that New Mexico, along with other states with large Latino populations, did a particularly poor job of reporting ethnicity data; and

     WHEREAS, there is a need to have accurate reporting of race and ethnicity data, both to understand the impact the criminal justice system has on different racial and ethnic groups and to determine whether the criminal justice system is disproportionally affecting any groups; and

     WHEREAS, this need is particularly acute in New Mexico, which is one of the handful of majority-minority states in the nation; and

     WHEREAS, the present systems for collecting race and ethnicity data across the criminal justice system in New Mexico are inconsistent and not standardized, where they exist at all; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico sentencing commission was created to advise the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government on policy matters relating to criminal and juvenile justice; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico sentencing commission has the additional duty to make recommendations to the legislature concerning proposed changes to laws relating to the criminal and juvenile justice systems that the commission determines would improve those systems; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico sentencing commission has access to all criminal justice data in the state and has been mandated by the legislature to coordinate criminal justice data-sharing efforts in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, the membership of the New Mexico sentencing commission represents criminal justice partners across the state and has reconstituted its reform committee to better fulfill its mandate to bring the best ideas in criminal justice reform to the legislature;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico sentencing commission be requested to convene a task force focused on the collection of race and ethnicity data in the state's criminal justice systems; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be requested to:

          A. review existing data collection policies by the state's criminal justice entities;

          B. determine what data collection policies for race and ethnicity information would best serve the needs of the state and its people; and

          C. draft legislation for introduction in the 2021 legislative session to mandate the collection of race and ethnicity data in New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico sentencing commission be requested to include the following participants in the task force:

          A. the members of the New Mexico sentencing commission's reform committee;

          B. a representative of a civil liberties organization;

          C. a representative of an organization that advocates for the rights of minority populations;

          D. a representative of a municipal or county law enforcement entity; and

          E. a scholar from the interdisciplinary working group on algorithmic justice who specializes in race and ethnicity; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that findings and recommendations of the task force be presented to the interim committee dealing with courts, corrections and justice issues by December 1, 2020; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the chair of the New Mexico sentencing commission and the co-chairs of the interim committee dealing with courts, corrections and justice issues.

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