ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The numbers are sobering. “Too many people, too many victims are killed by juveniles in our community,” said Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman.
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He said from January of last year to November of this year there have been 1,448 juvenile cases. This includes 24 homicides, 386 cases involving firearms, 49 armed robberies, and 44 rapes. He said from 2022 to 2023, there’s been a 57% increase in cases that involved kids with guns. “It is real, it is escalating, it is unacceptable at ever level,” said Bregman.
In front of lawmakers on Tuesday, he presented a 64-page bill with proposed amendments to the children’s code to crack down on youth crime. Changes he’d like to see include expanding what juveniles can be charged for as adults, from just first-degree murder, to include second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, rape, and shooting at a car or building causing great bodily harm or death.