Delaware Senate Bill 194 (Prior Session Legislation)

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Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)
Status: Introduced on June 7 2016 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2016-06-07 - Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate
Pending: Senate Judiciary Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Draft #1) [HTML]

In 2011, House Bill No. 19, otherwise known as the Ned Carpenter Act, 78 Del. Law, c. 13, overhauled the statutory penalties for drug offenses. Notably, it drastically reduced the mandatory minimum sentences for many drug offenses. These changes paralleled the changes made by the federal government and many other states to their respective sentencing provisions. However, the Ned Carpenter Act did not make the new statutory penalties retroactive. By contrast the federal government and several states, including California, New York, and Michigan, have made their new sentencing provisions for drug offenses retroactive, enabling inmates sentenced under the prior sentencing provisions to apply for resentencing. Since Delaware has not done the same, there are many inmates in Delaware’s prisons who are serving long terms of incarceration, even though the current statutory penalties would almost certainly have provided them with far shorter sentences. This Act rectifies this by providing that the new statutory penalties established by the Ned Carpenter Act apply retroactively and allowing such inmates to petition the Superior Court for a reduced sentenced.

An Act To Amend Title 11 Of The Delaware Code Relating To Sentences For Certain Drug Offenses.

Sen. Margaret Henry [D]	Rep. Helene Keeley [D]	Sen. Harris McDowell [D]	Sen. Karen Peterson [D]
Rep. Paul Baumbach [D]	Rep. Stephanie Bolden [D]	Rep. John Kowalko [D]

Date	Chamber	Action
2016-06-07	Senate	Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate

Type	Source
Summary	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis148.nsf/2bede841c6272c888025698400433a04/70b876f965f1aa3d85257f3700538c4c?OpenDocument
Text	http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis148.nsf/vwLegislation/SB+194/$file/legis.html?open