U.S. Attorney General William Barr said he feels New Mexico's laws are subpar and don't keep the most violent offenders off the streets, he said in announcing the findings of a crime-fighting initiative in the state.
Barr said in his statement regarding the findings that he hoped eventually the state's laws would get better, according to KOB4.
“What these partnerships allow is the state and local law enforcement – when they identify a case of a dangerous offender, they can take it to the feds and have us use our laws that are stronger,” Barr said. “Hopefully, at some point, New Mexico's system will come up to snuff.”
Barr was joined earlier this month by U.S. Marshal Service Director Donald Washington and several other federal officials when they announced 300 fugitives suspected of violent crimes were arrested as part of the initiative. As part of the initiative, 31 stolen vehicles were recovered, as well as illegal firearms, drugs and $50,000 in cash, KOB4 reported in another story.
The initiative removes cases from state court into federal court so that they can be tried with tougher laws. In federal court, judges are more likely to keep suspects behind bars pending trial, the news agency reported.
Barr was critical of the state's bail reform law, which was passed by voters, saying that the effect of letting offenders back on the street meant they were committing more crimes.
“I think part of the problem there is the judiciary in New Mexico not using the laws that they have to keep dangerous offenders in pretrial detention," Barr said to KOB4.
New Mexico has the second-highest violent crime rate and the highest property crime rate in the nation, according to FBI figures from 2018.
The initiative focused on Albuquerque because the city accounts for more than half of the state's overall crime, according to the news agency.
Alerts Sign-up