|
Delaware
Mandatory
Minimum
Sunset
Bill
6/23/00
Two Delaware legislators,
State Senators Liane Sorenson of the 6th Senatorial District and Myrna
Bair of the 5th District, both Republicans, have introduced a bill that
would end the state's current mandatory minimum sentence regime.
Delaware Senate Bill 331
would "sunset," or end, every mandatory minimum sentence in the Delaware
Code two years after the bill is passed. The bill would, however,
allow for mandatory minimums for any particular crime to be reenacted upon
recommendation by a special commission empowered to review all such sentences.
Along with much of the nation,
Delaware spent the last few years bleeding money in a prison-building binge
largely necessitated by harsh mandatory minimum sentences. According
to the Delaware Department of Corrections, the state prison population
has increased 58% in the 1990s. The state spent $180 million for
prison space to accommodate this influx.
In a recent opinion piece
in the Newark (Delaware) Post, Senator Sorenson wrote that constituent
pressure to "do something" about mandatory minimums left her "quite surprised."
But, she added, "I believe
that mandatory minimum sentencing has tied the hands of Delaware judges,
ruined the lives of many Delawareans who made a relatively minor mistake
and cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. I believe
it is time for a change."
To learn more about mandatory
minimum sentencing, visit Families Against Mandatory Minimums at http://www.famm.org.
-- END --
|
Issue #142, 6/23/00
Senate Passes Colombia Military Assistance, Marginal Differences With House Version Head to Conference Committee, What Next? | Cops and Drugs: Police Departments Tolerating Past Drug Use by Job Applicants | Canadian Marijuana Party Forms: "Look Out Ottawa, Here We Come!" | Australia: In Victoria, Drug Reform Comes Painfully Slow, Injection Room Bill Faces Tough Battle | Delaware Mandatory Minimum Sunset Bill | Lies, Damn Lies and the Drug Abuse Warning Network Statistics | US Surgeon General's Latest Research Review Supports Needle Exchange Programs | AlertS: Free Speech, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Washington State | HEA Campaign | Event Calendar | Editorial: Cops, Drug Use, Symbolism
|
This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
|
PERMISSION to reprint or
redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle (formerly The Week Online with DRCNet is hereby
granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and,
where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your
publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks
payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for
materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we
request notification for our records, including physical copies where
material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network,
P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202)
293-8344 (fax), e-mail [email protected]. Thank
you.
Articles of a purely
educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet
Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
|
