State figures show New Mexico's juvenile detention centers reported more youth-on-youth violence and use-of-force encounters this past year, while the percentage of juvenile offenders who returned to the system as adults doubled.
The figures from the fiscal year ending in June were included in a Legislative Finance Committee presentation for lawmakers Wednesday in Albuquerque.
A committee analyst says 12 percent of youth who completed sentences in the juvenile justice system in the past two years were booked into adult correctional facilities last year — up from 6 percent the year before.
Forty injuries stemming from encounters between youth and corrections staff or other youth held in detention facilities marked a slight increase from the year before. The state's child welfare agency says injuries may include those requiring medical attention, as well as bruises or scrapes.
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