NM Criminals Failing to Pay Restitution
Getting convicted criminals to pay up on court-ordered restitution can be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for frustrated victims struggling with weaknesses and loopholes in New Mexico law, News 13 has found.
“Until somebody really steps up and we try to enforce this, it
remains one of those aspects of sanctions that victims are going to feel offenders are not being held accountable,” Victims Rights Project director Linda Atkinson said.
Criminals spend time in prison, then in probation or parole, but many of them are failing to pay restitution to their victims – something ordered by judges at sentencing and mandated by law.
“Restitution was set up as what we would call ‘quasi-punishment’,” Atkinson said. “It is basically [for] out-of-pocket expenses that a victim would have as a result of a crime.”
News 13 has learned that once convicted criminals have completed their time under the supervision of the New Mexico Corrections Department, no one is left to make sure the restitution order is satisfied.
Lorena Bustos, a former teacher at a juvenile detention center in Albuquerque, was attacked by an adult inmate in 2004.
The attacker, Jessica Saldana, 24, was ordered to pay restitution to Bustos as part of her sentence. “She has not paid me anything,” Bustos said.
As medical bills pile up, the only option for Bustos now is to sue—that’s something she can not afford. “It’s been tough,” Bustos said. “It’s been real difficult.”
It’s a similar story for Pam and Jon Hartman from central New Mexico. A teenage boy originally charged with molesting the couple’s two young daughters ultimately pleaded guilty to two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The judge in the case eventually found him guilty of violating the terms of his probation by threatening the girls at school, ordering restitution for the victims. The exact amount has yet to be determined.
In the meantime, the cost is growing for weekly trips from the family home to Santa Fe for counseling. “Our bills right now have totaled over $10,000,” Pam Hartman told News 13.
It’s too easy for criminals to get away with not paying restitution, according to Atkinson. “We need to figure out what will work without re-victimizing victims,” Atkinson said.
The state’s criminal justice system requires probation and parole officers to devise and enforce a restitution payment plan while criminals serve their sentences.
“Restitution is and always will be a high priority for our officers to make sure the victims get all the restitution paid to them,” Deputy Probation and Parole director David Jablonski said. “We do our best – but at times it’s tough to get water from a dry well.”
Once their time is up with the Department of Corrections, convicted criminals are no longer held to the payment plan established by probation and parole.
“There’s no teeth in the law,” said Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg. “It says that restitution should be ordered, and then there’s case law that says you can’t put someone in jail because they can’t pay it.”
Atkinson said New Mexico needs something like a restitution enforcement agency. “To victims – it becomes the principle of the matter,” Atkinson said. “It isn’t the amount, it’s the principle.”
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