Delaware criminal justice reform bills signed into law

Delaware State News
Posted 11/8/21

DOVER — Gov. John Carney signed a slew of criminal justice reform bills into law Monday, designed to restore public trust in Delaware’s criminal justice system, protect minors from facing …

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Delaware criminal justice reform bills signed into law

Posted

DOVER — Gov. John Carney signed a slew of criminal justice reform bills into law Monday, designed to restore public trust in Delaware’s criminal justice system, protect minors from facing lifelong consequences for juvenile mistakes, and expand second-chance opportunities.

Three of the eight bills signed were sponsored by Sen. Darius Brown, D-Wilmington, expand second-chance opportunities. SB 111 (the Clean Slate Act) automates Delaware’s existing expungement process, which eliminates the need to first file a petition with the State Bureau of Identification and is estimated to help more than 290,000 adults once the bill is fully implemented. Senate Bill 112 will expand eligibility for mandatory expungements, while Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 38 includes a number of technical revisions to the original Adult Expungement Reform Act passed by Sen. Brown in 2019.

Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown sponsored two bills. HB215 requires law enforcement to record custodial interrogations, with audio or audio and video technology, when they relate to a crime allegedly committed by an adult or a delinquent act allegedly committed by a child. HB 162 establishes a new fund for grants for services that supporters say have been proven effective in helping juveniles avoid contact with the criminal justice system and allocates $500,000 to the fund for cognitive behavioral therapy services and vocational training services.

Last year, Gov. Carney issued an executive order prohibiting executive branch law enforcement agencies, including the Delaware State Police and Capitol Police, from releasing juvenile mugshots, but there is no universal policy among Delaware’s 40-plus police agencies regarding publication of mugshots of minors, until now. HB 243, sponsored by Rep. Franklin Cooke, ends the practice of disseminating mugshots of juveniles charged with minor crimes.

Finally, SB 148, sponsored by Sen. Marie Pinkney, expands the power of the Delaware Department of Justice’s Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust to review police use-of force incidents that result in serious physical injury in addition to the office’s existing mandate to review all deadly-force incidents.

Several of these bills are part of the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus’ Justice for All Agenda, a series of legislative priorities to address systemic racial injustice and police brutality unveiled in June 2020 in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and other prominent deaths involving Black Americans.

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