Senate should pass bill to eliminate mandatory sentences for drug use
Editorial

Some people are calling this a time of permanent fiscal crisis. Governments, with too many bills to pay, are going to be strapped for funds well into the future.

Certainly, this month's non-stop agonizing over revenue and expenditures in Dover is testimony to the problem. Reports of unexpected windfalls may indicate a momentary relief, but the longer-term outlook calls for a prudent approach to paying the bills.

That's why the state Senate should consider a reform that would save the taxpayers money and at the same time make it possible for more Delawareans to lead productive lives.

End mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses.

The mandatory minimum laws were an honest attempt to combat rising crime related to drug abuse. The upshot, though, has been crowded prisons at great cost to the taxpayers and excessive prison stays for people who pose little threat to society.

The law also took away all sentencing discretion from the judges. The law pretends all drug offenders are the same and deserve the same punishment. The reality is that the law forces the state to warehouse thousands, many of whom should have served a lesser sentence and returned to the outside world to work at useful jobs. The taxpayers, instead, pick up the warehousing bill.

House Bill 71 would restore sentencing discretion to the judge. That path would make sure the big-threat criminals stay behind bars without forcing the taxpayers to support a huge human warehousing system.

The bill has already passed the House. It is stalled in the Senate. Contact your state senator and ask him or her to call for H.B. 71 to be brought before the full Senate.

H.B. 71 would serve the dual purpose of restoring balance to our criminal justice system at the same time it saves taxpayers their money.