148th
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
FISCAL
NOTE
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DESCRIPTION: AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO
HATE CRIMES
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ASSUMPTIONS:
1.
This
Act becomes effective upon signature of the Governor.
2. This Act would add an additional
criminal penalty if the offense committed was due to the victim being a
law-enforcement officer, a volunteer firefighter, a full-time firefighter,
emergency medical technician, paramedic, fire police officer, fire marshal,
correctional officer, a sheriff, a deputy sheriff, public transit operator, a
code enforcement constable or a code enforcement officer.
3. a)
The Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) researched arrest records and
Superior Court dispositions for calendar year 2015. The SAC examined assaults against law
enforcement or correctional officers as well as hate crime charges to establish
existing prosecutorial patters of such.
The SAC found low existing conviction rates for hate crimes and lengthy
sentences for underlying crimes under existing law. The SAC also realizes the possibility of
lengthy sentences where incarceration is likely or mandatory from the proposed
law. Given the complexities in
determining prosecutorial patterns for new crimes as well as the possibility of
lengthy sentences, the SAC expects that some DOC impact is possible, but
unlikely.
b) Hate crime is a felony G when the
underlying offense is a misdemeanor A. This
accompanying felony G hate crime could result in Superior Court having
jurisdiction over what might otherwise be a lower court case. Possible increases in Superior Court
caseloads from this Act are indeterminable due to unknown prosecutorial
patterns of these lower level crimes.
4. Due to the above mentioned reasons,
the fiscal impact for this Act is indeterminable, but likely to be minimal.
Cost:
Fiscal Year 2016 Indeterminable
Fiscal Year 2017 Indeterminable
Fiscal Year 2018 Indeterminable
Office of
Controller General
(Amounts are shown in whole dollars)
June 13,
2016
SP:CGO
5581480004