Municipal Court Judge Beth Padilla told Cortez City Council on Tuesday that the city saw a 24% increase in criminal filings over the past year.
She also reported progress in handling juvenile cases. After a council-passed amendment, the court now handles more underage possession cases. Padilla is researching a teen court option for youths.
Padilla said criminal citations last year totaled 386, compared with 509 this year.
“I can't necessarily explain why,” Padilla said. “I think that's a question for other people. But I do think it just speaks to the volume of cases that we're processing and how critical it is that we have a really smooth-running court.”
Padilla said the cause is not necessarily a rise in criminal activity, but may reflect officers filing cases in municipal court at their discretion.
The recent uptick aligns with other reports this year. In August, municipal court cases totaled 623 compared with 391 a year earlier, according to counts shared with The Journal by Cortez public information officer Kelly Codner.
Similar to what Padilla said Tuesday, causes for the rise remain unclear.
At the level of the 22nd Judicial District, office manager Clarisa Osborn told the Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners earlier in November that the severity of crimes in the region has risen, along with juvenile handgun possession cases.
Osborn did not point to specific numbers, and DA Jeremy Reed said the increase in severity could be a “cyclical” matter.
“We'll have a stretch of more serious things, and then it'll hopefully calm down again,” said Reed.
Padilla said the court is handling cases resulting from a juvenile justice amendment passed by councilors. That amendment requires youths caught with alcohol, cannabis or nicotine to appear in municipal court instead of district court.
“We have seen a significant increase in juveniles, which was what we wanted,” Padilla said. “That is in part because the ordinance was modified this year to allow underage possession of alcohol and tobacco and marijuana in our system.”
Last year’s municipal court addressed four tickets for possession. This year has seen 17, she said.
Padilla said the shift benefits youths.
“Sometimes if they're in district court, the dockets are bigger. They might be stuck there for a long period of time. We get them in (to municipal court) and out and back to school as quickly as possible.”
Padilla emphasized the age of some offenders: “We're seeing people as young as 12 in the courtroom,” she said.
“They have a difficult time seeing over the podium; these are very young defendants charged with very low-level offenses. They're charged with having alcohol or marijuana at school, typically, is what we're seeing.”
Repeat offender youths could end up before district court, Padilla said.
With the assistance of court clerk Carla Odell, Padilla is researching a teen court for juvenile offenders, she told council.
The specialized court can reduce recidivism, Padilla said.
For instance, a North Carolina Department of Public Safety study reviewing three adjudication options across more than 6,500 youths offender cases found that teen court resulted the lowest rate of recidivism.
Under the unique system, courts use youths volunteers, Padilla said. The charged teen who pleads guilty receives a limited sentence, often including jury duty.
“The youths typically receive the punishment better coming from their peers,” she said.
Padilla and Odell met with officials from Los Alamos County, New Mexico, teen court to learn more about the process, Padilla said.
“I'm not familiar with any other municipal courts in our area that are doing this, but I think it would be a good opportunity for us to be a leader in that way.”
