Attorney General Matt Denn will be pushing legislation next year to reduce automatic life sentences for repeat violent felons and to invest more in policing, among other initiatives.
Under current Delaware code, anyone convicted of three violent felonies are given an automatic life sentence. In Denn’s bill, subsequent felonies would instead carry the maximum sentence for that particular offense.
Some violent felonies include crimes like drug trafficking and burglary that can keep those convicted in a prison cell for decades.
“We continue to have too much violent crime in our state and people who repeatedly commit violent acts against other people should serve time in jail that are proportional to their offenses,” Denn said.
“But if there are people in jail who are serving sentences clearly disproportionate to the crimes they committed, that’s a moral wrong that ought to be righted.”
To that effect, those sentenced under laws that are later modified could ask for the court to review their punishment, though another proposal would limit that option to nonviolent crimes.
The state Department of Justice will continue pushing legislation to require prison time for young adults with a violent criminal history and are later caught with an illegal gun.
“It is agonizing to see people that young being effectively convicted on a gun charge and having to do time at a secure facility, but the message has to get out that it is not okay to carry a gun,” Denn said.
State Sen. Karen Peterson (D-Stanton), a longtime champion of sentencing reform, says support from DOJ on these issues is a welcome sight.
“At last, we have people in high places that realize our criminal justice system is inequitable,” Peterson said.
While legislators have repealed mandatory sentencing guidelines for some nonviolent offenses in recent years, they’ve also added new crimes for which judges have no discretion.
“We’re a bit schizophrenic in that respect,” she said. “We can’t really decide which way we’re going.”
However, many members of the General Assembly have ties to law enforcement or were once cops themselves and have balked at substantial reform efforts in the past.
House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf (D-Rehoboth Beach), a former state trooper, says he had not seen the bills and was not comfortable discussing the proposals.
“When you look at some of the crimes that are in the ‘three-strike’ realm now, there is some ability to refine some of those and remove them,” said Tom Brackin, president of the Delaware State Troopers Association.
But Brackin says he also hasn’t seen any drafts of the bills and would hesitate to comment too specifically. His organization would, however, oppose any attempts to remove violent crimes or those against law enforcement from the list, he says.
Senate Minority Whip Greg Lavelle (R-Sharpley) agreed that work could be done to modernize the system, but, "With the shootings and violence in Wilmington, we need to keep our hands on the pendulum and make sure it doesn’t swing too far."
Describing the package as an “ambitious” agenda, Denn’s department will also issue statewide guidelines for gathering evidence while questioning individuals, recording interrogations, getting witnesses and the use of body cameras.
He unveiled his plans at the Rotary Club of Wilmington Thursday, with several people speaking out in support of his efforts, while also saying he needs to address regulations surrounding bail to avoid overloading prisons with low-level offenders awaiting trial.
The attorney general also wants to drop mandatory reporting of most fights between kids 12-years-old and up that would be classified as a misdemeanor. He says he’d leave parents and principals the choice to contact the police.
State lawmakers will gavel in the final half of the 148th General Assembly in January.
