Home › News › Special Reports
Judge yearns for more kids' services
Photo by Michael J. GallegosTribune
Tribune
Judge Marie Baca listens to the words of a teen offender during his placement hearing. Baca wants the system to provide more rehabilitative services to juvenile offenders in the near future.
RELATED STORIES
More Special Reports
MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES
-
ABQTrib.com to remain available
08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008 -
Congressman is indicted
08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008 -
Series of attacks target Green Zone
08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008 -
Iran is defying U.N., agency says
08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008 -
Waterboarding approval probed
08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008
TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*
- Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
- Is Rome Burning?
- Ominous Skies
- The Road to Invalidation
- Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”
*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.
STORY TOOLS
SHARE THIS STORY [?]
Children's Court Presiding Judge Marie Baca has the job she always wanted, a position she thought would make a difference in the lives of troubled children.
"This is where you can have the most impact," she said in a recent interview in her Albuquerque office.
But all too often, Baca, 53, acknowledges she feels she lacks the tools to help teens and their families.
A typical day of 30 to 40 criminal cases is always exhausting and emotional. The next day, and the next, are always the same, she says.
"It makes me sad," Baca notes. "It breaks my heart."
She handles more than 700 juvenile delinquency cases annually, of which about 10 percent are repeat offenders on a path to adult courts.
"This is the court, given the appropriate resources, where you can prevent children from getting into the adult system," she said.
And yet, Baca's reflexive optimism has been fading to frustration with a juvenile justice system she feels doesn't provide the array of services children need - be it counseling, mentors and role models, tutoring and mental-health treatment - nor appropriate interventions for their families to help break the cycle of delinquency.
She said Children's Court is "missing the boat" by not having a strong parental component to help families.
"We need to work more intensively with parents," she says.
In many cases, children eventually will be sent home to parents - many of whom need help to improve the home environment and deal with their own issues, including alcoholism and domestic violence.
"We need to work together for a solution," Baca said. "In the courts, we're being asked to be social engineers, and we're ill-equipped to do so, frankly.
"I'm angry with the lack of programs," she said, "and still hopeful we can make change."
Baca has served 18 years on the bench, the last 3 in Children's Court. She plans to retire in August.
In retirement, she wants to volunteer in children's programs.
"As a judge, I've had to maintain emotional distance," she said. "The real me wants to be more hands-on."
Prior to her 1988 election to Metropolitan Court, where she served as chief judge, she worked in Children's Court on child abuse and neglect cases as a staff attorney for the Children, Youth and Families Department and as a court-appointed guardian. She also was a public defender.
Baca, who is divorced, is the mother of two grown daughters, Liv and Britt Hochhausler.
She says that once she comes to work, the never-ending cycle of domestic violence meeting her in the courtroom is disturbing.
"We read about it, but when you see it, it makes you sick," she says.
Sons are beating their mothers; boyfriends are beating their girlfriends; parents are beating their children.
"I want to have hope," she says, "but it's a little bit frustrating, and my window of hope is getting smaller.
"You never want a judge who feels the window is closed."
