Delaware General Assembly

Senate Corrections & Public Safety 3/26/25

Awaiting consideration in Committee

3/26/25

Townsend

Sen. Pinkney
Rep. Minor-Brown

Sen. Cruce, Sokola, Sturgeon
Reps. Heffernan, Morrison, Ross Levin, Kamela Smith, Snyder-Hall

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 AND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO MODIFICATION OF SENTENCES OF INCARCERATION.

This Act is named in honor of Richard “Mouse” Smith, a Delaware civil rights leader, who spent decades advocating on issues addressed by this Act. Currently, the Department of Correction (“Department”) biennially reviews individuals sentenced to more than 1 year of incarceration to determine if there is good cause to recommend a sentence modification to the Board of Parole for an individual who is not a substantial risk to the community or the individual’s self. Good cause includes the individual’s rehabilitation, serious medical illness or infirmity, and prison overcrowding. While any individual is eligible for consideration due to a serious medical illness or infirmity, only those who have served at least ½ of their sentence for a violent felony or ½ of their sentence with a statutorily mandated term of incarceration are eligible for consideration for rehabilitation, prison overcrowding, or another reason. If the Department recommends an individual for sentence modification, the Board of Parole considers the application and, if the Board approves, the sentencing court then makes a final determination on the sentence modification. This Act revises the process for sentence modification in 3 ways. First, this Act removes the Board of Parole from the sentence modification process and provides that applications for sentence modification are made directly to the sentencing court. Second, this Act provides that an individual who is incarcerated for more than 1 year may seek a sentence modification in 3 circumstances: (1) The application for a sentence modification is based solely on the person’s serious medical illness or infirmity. (2) The person is 60 years of age or older, has served at least 15 years of the originally imposed Level V sentence, and the application for sentence modification is based solely on the person’s rehabilitation. (3) The person has served at least 25 years of the originally imposed Level V sentence and the application for sentence modification is based solely on the person’s rehabilitation. Third, this Act provides that an individual who is incarcerated for more than 1 year and whose sentence is reviewed by the Department, but who the Department does not recommend for sentence modification, may apply to the court for a sentence modification. This Act also makes clear that the Department and sentencing court must consider if a sentence modification resulting in the release of an individual who is incarcerated would constitute a substantial risk to a victim of, or witness to, an offense that is the subject of the sentence modification and that the sentencing court must provide an opportunity for the victim to be heard. This Act takes effect 180 days after the Act’s enactment into law.

N/A

N/A

Takes effect upon being signed into law

N/A

View HTML View PDF