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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 12:44 am
Time: 12:44 am
Results for drug laws (delaware)
1 results foundAuthor: Huenke, Chuck Title: Delaware's House Bill 210: A Tradeoff of Lighter Drug Trafficking and Repeat Drug Selling Sentences for Harsher Sentences for Serious Person and Property Crimes Summary: In terms of criminal justice policy, House Bill 210 is surpassed in importance only by such changes as the establishment of the Sentencing Accountability Commission in 1987 (SENTAC) and Truth in Sentencing in 1990. When House Bill 210 became law on June 30, 2003 the expectation was that the impact of the significant reductions in the controversial drug trafficking and repeat drug selling mandatory sentences would be offset by the increased penalties for serious crimes such as Robbery 1st, Assault 1st, Burglary 1st, and Burglary 2nd. It was estimated that initially there would be a short-term savings due to the decrease in the number of Department of Correction (DOC) beds used for drug dealers and that over the long-run more beds would be needed for the longer violent offenders’ terms. Eventually the combination of the shorter drug and longer violent crime sentences would result in a bed neutral DOC impact. This goal would have been met, if all other things besides sentence length had remained constant between 2003 and 2007. However, as this study documents, criminal justice practice and crime volume shifts cannot always be anticipated resulting in unexpected outcomes. The initial HB 210 study (DelSAC, October 2005) showed a significant decrease in the need for DOC beds. At this early stage, not only were 298 DOC beds saved due to shorter drug selling sentences, but also fewer than expected Robbery 1st Degree cases received the new 3-year minimum term, resulting in an additional 57 DOC bed savings. Overall in the initial phases of HB 210 there was a surprising 355 bed savings. This bed savings contributed to the no-growth period in the DOC prison population in 2003 and 2004. In this follow-up study, the 2006 HB 210 sentence lengths – longer for violent crimes and shorter for drug selling – for the most part conformed to the new law. However, instead of a bed saving as was initially experienced, or a bed neutral result that was originally expected, by 2006 – 2007 there was a need for at least 338 more DOC beds. This increased bed demand was caused more by changes in crime volume, conviction rates and plea-bargaining than deviations from the expectations for HB 210. Of special note is the significant increase in the use of habitual sentences in place of the shorter HB 210 drug sentences. While there was speculation that this might happen, this is the first documentation that such a change actually occurred. These changes since 2004, many of them unanticipated, contributed to the increased 2006 and 2007 DOC prison populations. Brief summaries of the complex changes associated with HB 210 cases are provided below prior to the report’s detailed analysis. Details: Dover, DE: Delaware Office of Management and Budget, Statistical Analysis Center, 2008. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 8, 2010 at: http://sac.omb.delaware.gov/publications/documents/HB210_Jan_2008.pdf Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://sac.omb.delaware.gov/publications/documents/HB210_Jan_2008.pdf Shelf Number: 120416 Keywords: Drug Laws (Delaware)Prison OvercrowdingSentencing Reform |