After reporting out of a House committee, a bill which would have repealed Delaware's mandatory minimum drug-sentencing laws did not come up for a vote, though House officials said the bill could still see a vote in the second half of the 145th General Assembly.
House Bill 168 would have repealed mandatory minimum sentences in Title 16 relating to violations of our drug laws, returning to the State’s judiciary the discretion to pronounce appropriate sentences for individual crimes.
Delaware’s sentencing guidelines and Truth-in-Sentencing Law would remain in force, helping to guide judges in their decisions and ensuring offenders’ completion of their sentences.
The bill's sponsors said that allowing judges to individually craft criminal sentences will result in more accurate sentences, hopefully reducing the injustice, elevated incarcerated population, and excessive cost risked by one-size-fits-all mandatory minimum drug sentencing laws.
