Crime in New Mexico: Taking a Holistic Approach

About This Episode

Viante Executive Director, Rhiannon Samuel and Co-Chair Dale Armstrong interview a dynamic group representing very different components of the criminal justice system discuss if and how can we comprehensively address crime in New Mexico. Former Chief Gorden Eden, speaks on behalf of the law enforcement perspective. Former Judge Sandra Price from Northern New Mexico gives her take based off her experience as a District Attorney and then Judge. And, Joseph Shaw offers his experience as a former felon, now Executive Director of Father’s Building Futures.

Chief Gorden Eden has extensive experience in Law Enforcement and is known as a “career crime-fighter”. He started as a State Police patrol officer in the 1970s. He then spent eight years in federal law enforcement as the U.S. marshal for New Mexico. Then he worked for Gov. Susana Martinez, heading the state Department of Public Safety, which oversees State Police. Most recently he was the Chief of Police at the Albuquerque Police Department.  

Sandra Price was a district Judge in the 11th Judicial District in Farmington, NM from 2004 to 2017. She specializes in Children’s Court and is a member of the Children’s Law Section of the New Mexico Bar Association. She earned a law degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law. In 1996, she was the first women elected as San Juan County district attorney and served in the position from 1997 to 2001. Price worked at the San Juan County District Attorney’s Office for 15 years as a prosecutor.                

Joseph Shaw is the current executive director of Albuquerque nonprofit, Father’s Building Futures. Their mission is “to ensure parents experiencing barriers from incarceration have the best opportunities for stability: emotionally, socially, and financially”, the project is training men with tremendous barriers to succeed in New Mexico’s workforce. Joseph started with Fathers Building Futures in December 2012 as a client. Fathers Building Futures is a local nonprofit that focuses on providing on the job training individuals (Fathers) returning home from prison. While incarcerated he started taking the parent reentry classes through Fathers Building Futures to be eligible to participate in the incubator program upon his release.