Delaware's House Judiciary committee voted this week to move forward with a proposal to prohibit the arrest of children under the age of 12; the bill would also largely end the practice of placing young children in detention facilities.
Lawmakers voted in 2021 to prohibit the criminal prosecution of children under 12 – a decision bill sponsor Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha views as the foundation for his latest proposal, which would clarify elements of the 2021 law.
The bill includes a carve-out for children suspected of committing a limited list of serious crimes, including first-degree murder and rape; in those cases, law enforcement could still arrest children and transfer them to a detention facility pending a delinquency hearing.
But State Rep. Jeff Spiegelman points out that, as written, the legislation would not allow law enforcement to arrest a child under 12 for attempted murder unless they used a firearm.
“As written, an eleven-year who has killed their parent can be arrested and placed in a detention facility," he said. "An eleven-year-old who has attempted but failed to kill their parent cannot be arrested and placed in a detention facility unless it was with a firearm.”
Chuckwuocha says he's willing to include an amendment expanding the list of offenses for which young children could be arrested to address Rep. Spiegelman's concerns before the bill reaches the House floor.
Delaware’s Division of Family Services supports the proposal, arguing it still allows caseworkers to take children into custody and connect them to services. State Rep. Sean Lynn suggests in light of staffing challenges at Delaware’s two juvenile detention facilities, the policy might help avert a tragedy.
“We have exposure within the child welfare system akin to that which existed within the Department of Corrections that led up to the prison riot," he said. "It’s only a matter of time before something horrible happens to a child in DFS care because they’re overstaffed and underworked, there are too many kids in their roster for any worker to take care of.”
In 2017, when the Division of Youth Rehabilitative Services last released public demographic data on youth in custody, Delaware's two juvenile detention centers — one in Wilmington and one in Milford — held roughly two dozen people each at a time, with more than 100 people passing through the facilities each quarter.
