Delaware House Bill 253 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 12-1)
Status: Enrolled on May 9 2012 - 75% progression, died in chamber
Action: 2012-05-09 - HS 1 for HB 253 - Passed by Senate. Votes: Passed 19 YES 0 NO 0 NOT VOTING 2 ABSENT 0 VACANT
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

Our legal system has long required that defendants be competent to stand trial. Furthermore, our legal system is increasingly placing children in much the same role as adults when it comes to trying and sentencing those children. This Act establishes a procedure for the evaluation of the competency of a child for the purpose of Family Court proceedings. A child’s competency may be raised by either party or by the Court itself. If the Court determines the child’s competence to be an issue, the child must be examined by at least one mental disability expert who must prepare a report stating whether, in the expert’s opinion, the child is competent to proceed. A child may be declared incompetent by the Court if the Court determines that the child suffers from a mental condition, mental disability or chronological immaturity that substantially affects the child’s ability to assist counsel in the child’s defense or to understand the proceedings against the child. If the Court determines that the child is competent, the delinquency proceedings against the child will resume. If the child is found to be incompetent, the Court has various remedies at its disposal, including dismissal of the charges after certain periods of time.

An Act To Amend Title 10 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Juvenile Competency.

Rep. Michael Barbieri [D]	Sen. Patricia Blevins [D]	Sen. Brian Bushweller [D]	Sen. Bruce Ennis [D]
Sen. Bethany Hall-Long [D]	Rep. Debra Heffernan [D]	Rep. Helene Keeley [D]	Rep. Teresa Schooley [D]
Rep. Bryon Short [D]	Rep. Melanie Smith [D]	Sen. David Sokola [D]	Sen. Liane Sorenson [R]
Rep. Rebecca Walker [D]

Date	Chamber	Action
2012-05-09		HS 1 for HB 253 - Passed by Senate. Votes: Passed 19 YES 0 NO 0 NOT VOTING 2 ABSENT 0 VACANT
2012-05-01		HS 1 for HB 253 - Reported Out of Committee (JUDICIARY) in Senate with 5 On Its Merits
2012-04-03		HS 1 for HB 253 - Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate
2012-04-03		HS 1 for HB 253 - Passed by House of Representatives. Votes: Passed 40 YES 0 NO 0 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT 0 VACANT
2012-04-03		HS 1 for HB 253 - Amendment HA 1 - Passed in House by Voice Vote
2012-04-03		HS 1 for HB 253 - Amendment HA 1 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
2012-03-29		HS 1 for HB 253 - Reported Out of Committee (JUDICIARY) in House with 7 On Its Merits
2012-03-22		HS 1 for HB 253 - Assigned to Judiciary
2012-03-22		Substituted by HS 1 for HB 253
2012-01-24		Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House

Type	Source
Summary	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis146.nsf/2bede841c6272c888025698400433a04/3c4c857401267a8e852579820076e096?OpenDocument
Text	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis146.nsf/vwLegislation/HB+253/$file/legis.html?open