SENATE MEMORIAL 106

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019

INTRODUCED BY

Antoinette Sedillo Lopez

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO COALITION AGAINST DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TO STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF THE CREATION OF TWO PILOT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE COORDINATED COMMUNITY RESPONSE TEAMS.

     WHEREAS, nationally and in New Mexico, over one in three women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime, and one in seven men will experience domestic violence in his lifetime; and

     WHEREAS, data collected by the New Mexico interpersonal violence data central repository data reveals that adult victims who sought the assistance of service providers in 2017 represent thirty percent of domestic violence victims identified by law enforcement; and

     WHEREAS, offenders who participated in treatment programs in 2017 represent five and five-tenths percent of the domestic violence suspects identified by law enforcement; and

     WHEREAS, in the 2017 analysis of data from the New Mexico interpersonal violence data central repository, of the twelve thousand one hundred seven cases of domestic violence heard in magistrate courts in 2017, eight percent resulted in a guilty plea or conviction, one percent resulted in an acquittal, seventy-nine percent were dismissed and twelve percent resulted in "other" dispositions; and

     WHEREAS, according to the same source, of the one thousand nine hundred fifty-six cases of domestic violence heard in district courts in 2017, twenty-nine percent resulted in a guilty plea or conviction, less than one percent resulted in an acquittal, fifty-four percent were dismissed and sixteen percent resulted in "other" dispositions; and

     WHEREAS, a coordinated community response has been shown to increase referrals to services for victims, increase offender participation in batterers' intervention programs, increase the safety of survivors and victims, increase the number of cases prosecuted, reduce domestic violence dismissal rates and increase abuser accountability; and

     WHEREAS, the recommendations of the New Mexico intimate partner violence death review team identify many areas of improvement that could be addressed by an effective coordinated community response, including training, cooperation among agencies and law enforcement and community education and outreach; and

     WHEREAS, in an effective coordinated community response, the safety of the survivors and victims is paramount, and training, protocols, procedures and education among all key stakeholders and service providers should focus on this goal; and

     WHEREAS, an effective coordinated community response involves extensive interagency, law enforcement, prosecution and judicial cooperation and education; and

     WHEREAS, the support of major decision makers for coordinated community response efforts enhances effectiveness; and

     WHEREAS, confidentiality concerns with coordinated community response and multidisciplinary teams must be respected to ensure victim safety; and

     WHEREAS, an effective coordinated community response would achieve systemic changes; and

      WHEREAS, effective coordinated community responses bring together all relevant parties who work together to pursue shared objectives, and membership of teams depends on the local context; and

     WHEREAS, effective coordinated community responses mobilize the community, outreach education and primary prevention efforts and include sustained local campaigns engaging the media and diverse organizations and sectors of the population to:

          A. build community understanding and knowledge about domestic violence and resources;

          B. enable an overall supportive environment for victims and survivors; and

          C. further policy and legal reforms and secure additional resources; and

     WHEREAS, data should be constantly collected, and coordinated community response progress toward objectives should be measured to evaluate effectiveness, including the monitoring of perpetrator interventions and efforts to adjust policies and procedures to end perpetrator impunity;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico coalition against domestic violence be requested to study the feasibility of the creation of two pilot projects to establish effective coordinated community response teams; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the proposed pilot projects would place a coordinated community response team in the thirteenth judicial district and in the eleventh judicial district; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the pilot coordinated community response teams would study methods of coordination, training, monitoring, evaluating and reporting; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the pilot coordinated community response teams would ascertain the dismissal rate for domestic violence cases in their areas and identify the primary factors affecting the dismissal rates; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the pilot coordinated community response teams would make recommendations to reduce the dismissal rate and develop an implementation plan; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the pilot coordinated community response teams would implement use of the Ontario domestic assault risk assessment or a similar risk assessment tool that would be documented in arrest reports, and this information would be accessible to courts, probation officers, batterers' intervention programs and victim services agencies; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the pilot coordinated community response teams would work toward increasing the rate of referral of victims to domestic violence service providers; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the pilot coordinated community response teams would explore the Colorado model of batterers' intervention programs; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico coalition against domestic violence be requested to report its findings and recommendations to the appropriate interim legislative committee by October 1, 2019; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the president of the New Mexico coalition against domestic violence.

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