Notes from Tom Eichler 

The Delaware General Assembly is demonstrating a new and refreshing commitment to getting smart on crime.  At the recently concluded budget hearings, the legislators probed the courts and administrative agencies that were presenting their budget requests.  Their questions, which showed a heightened recognition that Delaware’s criminal justice system needs reform, included:

• Why do drug courts not have timely clinical assessments on treatment needs at the time defendants are sentenced?
• What is the Department of Health and Social Services doing to close the drug treatment gap for low-income citizens before they are caught up in the justice system?
• How could the Department of Correction cover the release of 14,984 inmates last year with only $19,000 in "gate money" or $1.28 each?
• Why does it take up to 12 months to process sentence modification requests for inmates, costing the state $26,400 to incarcerate them over that period of time?
• Whatever happened with the June 2000 Correction Department master plan recommendations to implement alternative management plans that could save prison beds?

With many questions left unanswered, legislators requested follow up replies from the agencies before them.

In the Senate, Senator McDowell led the way in questioning a bill, requested by the Attorney General, that would compromise a court decision that gives the News Journal access to detailed criminal justice data through DELJIS, the computerized criminal justice records.  The bill, HB 319, would prevent the release of information on the performance of police officers.  Ultimately, the bill was amended to protect individual officer names (although they are all available in courthouse records), and the way has been cleared for public analysis of the system. 

SURJ asks:  Why has the State itself not been doing this analysis all along, rather than fighting an expensive six-year battle with the News Journal, opposing and ultimately losing a case that would help inform the public on the performance of our public servants in the delivery of justice? 

The General Assembly hit a high point the week before it went into the Easter break when the Senate passed:

• Senator Henry's bill, SB 56, to reduce the three-year loss of driving privileges for a drug felony, making it possible to get a conditional license after one year; and
• Senator Peterson's bill, SB 229, removing the barrier to more than 30 licensed professions and occupations for people who have felony convictions.

In a spirited debate, Senators challenged their colleagues to remove counterproductive barriers to successful reentry of offenders to the community.  They understood the connection between access to jobs, including the ability to drive to work, and the ability to stay crime free.

Kudos for Speaker Spence too, who led the House in passing SURJ’s Special Commission bill, HB 358.  The bill would create a special commission to conduct a comprehensive assessment of our criminal justice sentencing and corrections policies and to make recommendations on alternatives that will advance public safety without the need to more prisons.

We will keep you posted as each of these bills now goes to the other house for consideration and let you know how you can help in the 75 days remaining until the legislature’s June 30 recess.  Meanwhile, if you are in contact with your Representative or Senator, please express your appreciation for the new focus that the General Assembly is putting forth to "get smart" on crime.

National Report and News Journal Target Barriers to Reentry

A New York Times April 6 editorial cited a new study from the Legal Action Center, a criminal justice policy group, identifying laws in all 50 states that hamper ex-offenders' ability to re-enter society successfully.

The report notes driver’s license suspensions and occupational license bans as significant barriers to reentry, which supports recent passage of SB 56 and SB 229 in the Senate.  SURJ hopes the House will take note and pass the bills as well.

Meanwhile, in an editorial on April 14, the News Journal lauded Senator Karen Peterson’s Senate Bill 229, saying that the bill “offers a solution to job problems facing convicted felons after their release,” and encouraging its passage.

Visions of Justice Forum Explores Ex-Offender Employment

On Friday, April 2, SURJ and the Delaware Center for Justice brought together  two experts on ex-offender employment, three of Delaware's cabinet members, and over 100 members of the community at its fifth Visions of Justice public forum. 

Click below to more info and photos.
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Occupational Barriers to Reentry in Delaware

Delaware law prohibits ex-felons from obtaining licenses to work in over 30 occupations.  This means that if an individual has ever been convicted of a felony, any felony, he or she is no longer entitled to work as an:

• Athletic trainer
• Barber
• Clinical social worker
• Cosmetologist
• Electrician
• Landscape architect
• Plumber

Clearly, our laws are in need of reform, and this is exactly what Senate Bill 229 would accomplish by removing the ban on over 30 occupational licenses for ex-felons, requiring that a past felony be directly related to an occupation, as determined by the relevant state licensing board, to prohibit a license.

State Bar Endorses Repeal of Mandatory Minimum Drug Sentences

On February 26, 2004, the Delaware State Bar Association passed the following resolution, calling for the repeal of mandatory minimum drug sentences:

“RESOLVED, that the Delaware State Bar Association, by and through its Executive Committee, supports the elimination of mandatory minimum sentences in the drug offense area thereby permitting Delaware’s trial judiciary, once again, to exercise its discretion to impose the appropriate sentence.”

SURJ 2003 Effort Recognized

Eyes and ears are turning toward SURJ in recognition of our progress in advancing sentencing reform. A recent News Journal editorial quoted Department of Correction Commissioner Stanley Taylor as saying:

 “For the first time in my career, the [prison] population is reflecting a continuing negative trend.” 

In a related News Journal article and at our most recent Visions of Justice forum, Commissioner Taylor made clear that he credits this decrease to recent reforms, including the SURJ-endorsed Senate Bill 50 on probation and House Bill 210, a compromise drug sentencing reform bill that SURJ played a key role in enacting in 2003. 

A recent report by the VERA Institute for Justice also recognized our accomplishments.