Section 33-9A-5 - Selection panels. - New Mexico Statutes

33-9A-5. Selection panels.

A.     The department shall establish a state panel whose duties shall be to immediately screen and identify delinquents sentenced to a juvenile correctional facility of the department and transferred to the legal custody of the department, except individuals who are sentenced or transferred from a judicial district that has established a local panel to exercise these duties pursuant to the provisions of this section and who meet the following criteria: 

(1)     the offense involved is one for which community service or reasonable restitution may be made using a payment schedule compatible with the total amount of restitution to be paid and the time the offender is to participate in a program; and

(2)     the child is willing to enter into a contract that establishes objectives that shall be achieved before release from the program.

B.     The department may establish criteria in addition to those established in Subsection A of this section for the screening of delinquents who would benefit from participation in a program and who would not pose a threat to the community.

C.     If the state panel determines that a child is suitable for placement in a program, a recommendation to that effect and for modification of disposition shall be presented as soon as possible to the sentencing judge or the department, which may, notwithstanding any provision of law, accept, modify or reject the recommendation.  The determination shall be presented to the county, municipality or private nonprofit organization, as applicable, for approval or rejection.

D.     A county, municipality or private nonprofit organization, individually or jointly, may establish a local panel to exercise the duties and responsibilities of the state panel pursuant to the provisions of Subsection A of this section and, using the same criteria as the state panel, the local panel may screen and identify delinquents.  The composition of a local panel shall include, to the maximum extent possible, representatives of the judiciary, the administrative office of the district attorneys, the public defender department, the children, youth and families department, the county sheriff or the municipal police department, individuals representing local programs and private citizens.