A. The department shall have exclusive jurisdiction and authority to release an adjudicated delinquent child during the term of the child's commitment, consistent with the provisions of the Victims of Crime Act [Chapter 31, Article 26 NMSA 1978]. In determining whether to release a child, the department shall give due consideration to public safety, the extent to which the child has been rehabilitated, the adequacy and suitability of the proposed release plan and the needs and best interests of the child, including the child's need for behavioral health or medical services that are not available in facilities for adjudicated delinquent children.
B. The decision to grant or deny release shall be made by the secretary of children, youth and families or the secretary's designee. The department may impose such conditions of release as it deems appropriate.
C. A child is eligible for release any time after the entry of a judgment transferring legal custody to the department, and the department may consider a reasonable request for release from the child at any time sixty days after the child has been committed.
D. In the event release for a child is denied by the department after release is recommended for the child by the juvenile public safety advisory board, or release is approved by the department after the board has recommended that the child not be released, within ten days, the board may request a review of the decision by the court of the judicial district from which legal custody of the child was transferred, and the department shall transmit the child's records to the court. The court shall have jurisdiction to review the matter without conducting a formal hearing and to issue an order that either denies or grants release to the child. If the board requests review under this section, the child shall not be released until such time as the court has issued a decision. If the board does not petition the district court for review of the department's decision to grant or deny release within ten days of the department's decision, the department's decision shall be final, and the department shall release the child or continue the commitment in accordance with the terms of its decision.
E. The secretary of children, youth and families or the secretary's designee may review the case of any child upon the child's or the juvenile public safety advisory board's reasonable request at any time after release is denied.
History: 1978 Comp., § 32A-2-23.1, as enacted by Laws 2009, ch. 239, § 23.
Effective dates. — Laws 2009, ch. 239, § 72 made this section effective July 1, 2009.
Applicability. — Laws 2009, ch. 239, § 71, provided that the provisions of this act apply to all children who, on July 1, 2009, are on release or are otherwise eligible to be placed on release as if the Juvenile Public Safety Advisory Board Act had been in effect at the time they were placed on release or became eligible to be released.
Structure 2021 New Mexico Statutes
Section 32A-2-1 - Short title.
Section 32A-2-2 - Purpose of act.
Section 32A-2-3 - Definitions.
Section 32A-2-4 - Detention facilities; standards; reports; appeals.
Section 32A-2-4.1 - Adult jails and lockups used as temporary holding facilities; reports.
Section 32A-2-6 - Transfer of jurisdiction over child from other tribunals to court.
Section 32A-2-7 - Complaints; referral; preliminary inquiry; notice; time waiver.
Section 32A-2-8 - Petition; authorization to file.
Section 32A-2-9 - Taking into custody.
Section 32A-2-10 - Release or delivery from custody.
Section 32A-2-11 - Criteria for detention of children.
Section 32A-2-12 - Placement or detention.
Section 32A-2-14 - Basic rights.
Section 32A-2-15 - Time limitations on delinquency adjudicatory hearing.
Section 32A-2-16 - Conduct of hearings; findings; dismissal; dispositional matters; penalty.
Section 32A-2-17 - Predisposition studies; reports and examinations.
Section 32A-2-18 - Judgment; noncriminal nature; nonadmissibility.
Section 32A-2-19 - Disposition of an adjudicated delinquent offender.
Section 32A-2-20 - Disposition of a youthful offender.
Section 32A-2-22 - Continuance under supervision without judgment; consent decree; disposition.
Section 32A-2-23.1 - Release eligibility.
Section 32A-2-23.2 - Release proceedings.
Section 32A-2-24 - Probation revocation; disposition.
Section 32A-2-25 - Parole revocation; procedures.
Section 32A-2-26 - Sealing of records.
Section 32A-2-28 - Parental responsibility.
Section 32A-2-29 - Motor Vehicle Code violations.
Section 32A-2-30 - Indigency standard; fee schedule; reimbursement.
Section 32A-2-31 - Child adjudicated delinquent; victim restitution; compensation; deductions.
Section 32A-2-32 - Confidentiality; records.
Section 32A-2-32.1 - Information not to be disclosed on a public access web site.
Section 32A-2-33 - Child in possession of a firearm on school premises; detention; hearing.