A new bill modeled on the federal Violence Against Women Act could safeguard New Mexico’s children from the traumatic and sometimes dangerous consequences of divorce
Criminal Justice
Posted inCriminal Justice
The historical tensions that motivated Ryan Martinez have not gone away
In a Searchlight essay from 2023, centuries-old conflicts at the heart of this crime were deeply explored
Posted inCriminal Justice
Inside the shoplifting bust of Albuquerque Journal editor Patrick Ethridge
The editor of New Mexico’s largest newspaper has lost his job for stealing groceries at a Walmart. Public and private records obtained by Searchlight New Mexico paint a clear picture of what happened. What remains a mystery is why.
Posted inCriminal Justice
An inmate went on a hunger strike. So the jail shut off his tap.
Three days without water: “I almost lost my mind.”
Posted inCriminal Justice
Basic math errors. Faulty statistics. Conclusions that don’t add up.
Amid a plethora of inaccurate reporting, Albuquerque celebrates the end of a nearly 10-year federal consent decree.
Posted inFeatured
Can the Albuquerque Police Department ever be reformed?
Despite 10 years of federal oversight, Albuquerque police are killing more people than ever
Posted inCriminal Justice
Drive-by shootings: New Mexico’s ‘hidden in plain sight problem’
The drive-bys have killed children and terrorized families amid widening gun violence in New Mexico
Posted inCriminal Justice
How a cry for food sparked Christmas Day trouble in New Mexico’s largest jail for kids
The sun was setting as parents waited for the Christmas Day call from their incarcerated children, unaware of the fraught situation that had broken out hours earlier: a so-called “riot” at New Mexico’s largest jail for kids. The news media were depicting a violent uprising inside the Bernalillo County Youth Services Center, where a 911 […]
Posted inFeatured
Holidays for foster teens: CYFD sends kids to a lockup with cold “cells” and metal beds
On Thanksgiving, CYFD sent foster children to a facility for violent youth. At Christmas, kids ran away.
Posted inCriminal Justice
Letters from juvie
Faced with strip searches, isolation and hourslong waits to use a toilet, three juvenile inmates describe their experiences in New Mexico’s largest jail for children.