The New Mexico Legislature's Indian Affairs Committee. held a hearing on Tuesday to focus on juveniles in the justice system.

Lawmakers were told that tribes have little or no input in the juvenile justice system. Youth inmates are sent far away from home and do not receive adequate counseling, Ada Pecos Melton, president of American Indian Development Associates, said.

A study by Yolandra Gomez Toya shows that most of the Native youth in the system are from San Juan County, which encompasses the Navajo Nation. Sixty-two percent were from the county yet there is no juvenile facility in the area.

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Native youth suffer from lack of services (The Farmington Daily Times 8/4)