Delaware Senate Bill 153 (Prior Session Legislation)

---

Completed Legislative Action
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: Passed on September 3 2015 - 100% progression
Action: 2015-09-03 - Signed by Governor
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

This Act provides clarity by eliminating language struck down by the courts, making conflicting definitions and offenses consistent, and correcting oversights of language changes made necessary by previous legislation. Section 1 eliminates language that the Delaware Supreme Court struck down in Hughes v. State, 653 A.2d 241 (1994) for equal protection and due process violations. Section 2 through 7 makes the description of sex offenses and sex offenders in Chapter 5 of Title 11 consistent with the most complete list in 4121(a)(4) of Title 11; adds 1112B of Title 11, promoting sexual solicitation of a child, to those provisions defining the offense of “dangerous crime against a child” and “sex offender unlawful conduct toward a child”; clarifies the definition of “child”; and adds the child abuse misdemeanor to those offenses that if done in sight or hearing of a related child qualifies as endangering the welfare of a child. Section 8 adds the following offenses often targeting children to those considered by Chapter 35 of Title 11 to warrant the admissibility of out-of-court statements by child victims under 11 years old regarding acts constituting such offense: Human Trafficking, Dealing in Children, Violation of Privacy, Promoting Prostitution of a Person less than 18 years old, Promoting Prostitution of a Person Less than 16 years old, and Obscenity to a Person less than 18 years old. The offenses currently addressed by Chapter 35 of Title 11 are: Unlawful Imprisonment in the First Degree, Kidnapping in the First and Second Degrees, Endangering the Welfare of a Child, Sexual Exploitation of a Child, Dealing in Child Pornography, Possession of Child Pornography, and Sexual Solicitation of a Child. Section 9 clarifies the offenses that require community notification of a sex offender and that, for this purpose, an adjudication for such an offense has the same consequence as conviction; makes a technical correction referencing the appropriate subsection under which one would be designated a sex offender; and describes rather than references the elements of a kidnapping offense that qualify the offender for a Tier III sex offender status. Section 10 adds Child Abuse in the First, Second, and Third Degrees and Promoting Sexual Solicitation of a Child to the crimes listed in the Victims’ Bill of Rights and makes a technical correction to Sexual Solicitation of a Child in the same list. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the guidelines of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual. Author: Senator Henry

An Act To Amend The Delaware Code Relating To Crimes And Criminal Procedure Involving Children.

Sen. Margaret Henry [D]

Rep. John Mitchell [D]

Sen. Bruce Ennis [D]

Rep. Helene Keeley [D]

2015-07-01 - House - House Third Reading (Y: 39 N: 0 NV: 1 Abs: 1) [PASS]

Date	Chamber	Action
2015-09-03	Senate	Signed by Governor
2015-07-01	House	Passed by House of Representatives. Votes: Passed 39 YES 0 NO 1 NOT VOTING 1 ABSENT 0 VACANT
2015-07-01	House	Necessary rules are suspended in House
2015-06-26	House	Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House
2015-06-25	Senate	Passed by Senate. Votes: Passed 21 YES 0 NO 0 NOT VOTING 0 ABSENT 0 VACANT
2015-06-24	Senate	Reported Out of Committee (JUDICIARY) in Senate with 5 On Its Merits
2015-06-24	Senate	Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate

Type	Source
Summary	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis148.nsf/2bede841c6272c888025698400433a04/9935a6c726aeea8985257e5800732f55?OpenDocument
Text	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis148.nsf/vwLegislation/SB+153/$file/legis.html?open
Roll Call	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis148.nsf/7712cf7cc0e9227a852568470077336f/c9d9feedce44f07885257e75002bd2d4?OpenDocument