The News Journal
Article by
Patrick Jackson
6/27/03Assembly
approves drug bill
Jail terms are cut for
some crimes
A bill that lowers minimum mandatory
jail terms for some drug crimes with the aim of creating more prison
space for violent offenders passed the General Assembly on Thursday.
On a 20-1 vote, the Senate sent House Bill 210 back to the House with
technical changes. The House approved the measure and sent it to Gov.
Ruth Ann Minner on Thursday night.
Minner has said she would sign the bill.
Only Senate Majority Leader Harris B. McDowell III, D-Wilmington
North, voted against the measure.
"With this 'compromise,' we're giving the attorney general power she
hasn't been able to get out of this body for 20 years," he said.
McDowell said he objected to wording giving Superior Court the
ability to decide if juveniles charged with armed robbery or
first-degree assault should be tried in adult or family court.
The bill is a compromise among the Attorney General's Office, the
state's Sentencing Accountability Commission and Stand Up for What's
Right and Just, a citizens group dedicated to criminal justice reform.
Attorney General M. Jane Brady said those provisions will increase
public confidence that violent criminals will do jail time.
"The people want the safe streets. They want to be able to go to the
convenience store in safety," Brady said. "I think they will see that we
are doing that with this bill."
Among the bill's most controversial provisions in the Senate was
language that cuts the minimum mandatory sentence for cocaine
trafficking from three years to two years, and increasing the amount of
the drug needed to trigger the sentence from 5 grams to 10 grams.
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