CHAPTER 172
FORMERLY HOUSE BILL NO. 427
AS AMENDED BY HOUSE AMENDMENT NO. 1
AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 65, TITLE 11, DELAWARE CODE, RELATING TO SEPARATE CUSTODIAL CARE AND WORK FOR YOUTHFUL OFFENDERS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware:
Section 1. Amend subsection (a), Section 6526, Title 11, Delaware Code, by striking the period at the end thereof and substituting in lieu thereof a comma, followed by the words:
"subject to limitations of existing structures, staff, and appropriations."
Section 2. Amend Section 6502, Title 11, Delaware Code, by adding thereto the following definition:
" 'Youthful offender' means any offender requiring incarceration who has not reached his eighteenth birthday."
Section 3. The Department of Health and Social Services is hereby directed to undertake a study of criteria relevant to the placing of prisoners so that treatment programs tailored to their needs can best be implemented. The Department shall consider plans for the separation of prisoners based on factors such as, but not limited to:
(1) the nature of the crime committed by the offender;
(2) the danger of the offender to society, including propensity of the offender to violence;
(3) preferred treatment for the offender's rehabilitation;
(4) cost to the State in terms of financial outlay;
(5) age of the offender;
(6) sex of the offender.
The Department shall, based upon its projections of the State's needs with respect to facilities and programs for implementation of its recommendations concerning separation of prisoners, develop a plan for such implementation, including a plan for bringing into being such separate facilities for different categories of offenders as the Department believes the State's future needs require.
The Department shall make a report of its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly on or before April 1, 1972. The plan for the bringing into being of whatever new facilities as it deems desirable shall be based on the State's needs as of July 1, 1975. The Department shall take whatever steps are mandated by the General Assembly to complete such new facilities by July 1, 1975.