Delaware General Assembly

Signed 5/24/18

The General Assembly has ended, the current status is the final status.

1/23/18

J. Johnson

Sen. McDowell, Henry, Townsend
Reps. Longhurst, Heffernan, Lynn, Potter

Reps. Baumbach, Brady, Paradee

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO CERTAIN CRIMES.

This bill permits judges to utilize their discretion in determining whether a juvenile charged with possession of a firearm during commission of a felony should be transferred back to Family Court or remain in Superior Court. Prior to 2017, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony was only one of five criminal charges where judges had no discretion in determining whether a juvenile should be treated as a juvenile or an adult because the statute required a juvenile charged with these offenses to be prosecuted as an adult. House Bill 9, which was enacted last year, provided judges the discretion to determine how a juvenile should be treated for four other offenses. This is a continuation of that effort. The bill simply changes the language from ‘shall’ to ‘may’ to allow judges to weigh the possibility that a juvenile may be better served in Delaware’s Family Court system through the amenability process already enumerated in Title 10 § 1010 and § 1011. This bill also raises the age from 15 to 16.

81:252

27

5/24/18

N/A

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