7/3/2003
Delaware Passes Drug
Sentencing Reform Bill
Reduces Mandatory
Minimum Sentences, Puts Off Costly Prison Expansion
For the first time,
Delaware has passed into law a bill that will reduce mandatory minimum
drug sentences, affording judges greater sentencing latitude at the
lower end of the sentencing range. House Bill 210 will
save a significant number of prison beds and
help eliminate the need to expand the state’s prison construction for
at least a year.
House Bill 210 was a
compromise agreement among Delaware’s Attorney General, the Sentencing
Accountability Commission (SENTAC) and Stand Up for what’s Right and
Just (SURJ), a grassroots organization that for three years has been
acting to reform Delaware’s criminal justice system.
SURJ has worked to give Delaware’s judges a
greater measure of discretion on mandatory minimum drug sentences
through House Bill 35, an earlier “drug safety valve” bill that
introduced alternatives to mandatory minimum prison sentences for some
drug offenses. It did not pass due to competing bills that caused an
ongoing impasse.
“We saw that if we were to achieve our objectives, we would have to
negotiate a compromise to overcome the stalemate,” said Tom Eichler,
executive director of SURJ.
“We are pleased that
Judge Gebelein, Chairman of Delaware’s Sentencing Accountability
Commission, along with SURJ and the Attorney General, were able to
resolve the impasse by creating a single bill that will reduce prison
time for drug offenders and non-violent motor vehicle violators to make
sure that expensive and limited prison capacity is saved for the most
violent criminals.”
While Delaware’s Statistical Analysis Center
reports that the increases in violent crime provisions in this bill
will require an additional 142 to 172 prison beds annually, this will
be offset by the reduced sentences for drug violations, saving 300
beds, and by the fact that sentencing alternatives will permit the
Department of Correction to use electronic monitoring for motor vehicle
violators, which will save another 150 beds annually.
“But for the pressure brought by SURJ and HB
35, there would have been no compromise. We have made progress that 18
months ago I would have thought impossible,” said Judge Gebelein.
According to Eichler, passage of HB 210 is
the first of many legislative victories needed to ensure that progress
continues.
“We need a thorough analysis of our state’s
criminal justice system to effect positive changes that will advance
justice while making economic and social sense,” said Eichler.
To that end, SURJ has drafted and filed HB
304, backed by several key sponsors, that creates a Special
Commission on criminal justice to assess the viability of alternatives
to prison construction in Delaware. The review will include an
analysis of charging decisions, pre-trial detention, plea bargaining,
sentencing and correctional systems, rehabilitation, programming,
offender re-entry mechanisms and community-based services and
programming. The assessment also will identify modifications that can
be made in those systems to improve their cost-effectiveness and reduce
the risk of re-offense in conformance with justice, public safety and
constitutional requirements.
Drug sentencing reform provisions of HB 210:
- Trafficking in illegal drugs, by first, second,
and third weight levels reduced from 3 years to 2, 5 years to
4, and 15 to 8 (excepting heroin)
- Possession with intent to deliver, second
offense reduced from 15 years to 3, except for heroin which is 5
years; also no longer will repeat possession misdemeanor/felony
convictions trigger these enhanced penalties
- The last 6 months of drug sentences may be
served at Level IV, work release or home confinement to facilitate
continuity of treatment in preparation for reentry.
- Cocaine trafficking weight level raised from 5
grams to 10 grams
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