Updates to Delaware’s Victims’ Bill of Rights are underway after over 30 years without a comprehensive review.
The Victims’ Bill of Rights Committee approved its final list of recommendations over a year ago after conducting the first evaluation of the law since its inception in 1992.
A bill has finally reached the General Assembly, making various technical changes, clarifying the obligations state agencies have to inform people of their rights and strengthening the current notification system for victims on the status of criminal proceedings.
Sen. Majority Leader Bryan Townsend (D-Newark) chaired the Victims’ Bill of Rights Committee and says while he’s happy the changes are coming to fruition, he wants to recognize how victims have been failed by the current system.
“We are better serving them by trying to get it right by modernizing for the first time in way too long, and again, there have been people who've been advocating for decades and bless you for what you do," Sen. Townsend said during the bill's floor vote.
The bipartisan bill would make numerous updates, including allowing victims and witnesses to request safety accommodations while attending court proceedings and the right for immigrant victims and witnesses not to be detained or turned over to federal immigration authorities without a judicial warrant.
Sen. Minority Leader Brian Pettyjohn (R-Georgetown), who chaired the Victims’ Compensation and Administrative Subgroup, echoed Sen. Townsend's sentiments, noting he hopes updates to other crucial support programs do not take as long.
“The changes that we made are substantive, they're long overdue, and I'm very confident that it will help the people that, unfortunately, I don't think we talk about enough when we talk about the criminal justice system, and that's the victims of crime," Sen. Pettyjohn said.
If approved by the House and signed into the law by the governor, all crime victims would be provided a summary of their rights and information about victim services in their copy of the incident report.
The bill also requires the Department of Justice to effectively communicate the progression of the victim’s criminal case, as well as information about the state’s Victims’ Compensation Assistance Program.
The bill passed unanimously in the Senate among members present and heads to the House.
