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Pretrial Release and Detention Reform

In the past few years, New Mexico has taken two significant steps in that direction:
(1) Passage by the New Mexico Legislature (91% in favor) and voters (87% in favor) of a constitutional amendment to give judges new authority to deny release to proven dangerous defendants – no matter how much they can pay for a bail bond – and ensuring that defendants who are neither a danger nor a flight risk may not be kept in jail before trial only because they cannot afford to buy a money bond; and
(2) Issuance in July 2017 by the Supreme Court, on recommendation of a broad-based bail reform committee, of court rules to enforce the mandates of the new constitutional amendment, better protect public safety, and improve equal protection of the law. Learn More