Attorney General M. Jane Brady and key lawmakers unveiled legislation Wednesday designed to cut prison populations by dramatically changing Delaware's probation system.
The legislation to be sponsored by Sen. James T. Vaughn, D-Clayton, would cap probation sentences at two years for violent felonies, 18 months for drug offenses and one year for all other offenses.
Currently, offenders often are scheduled to probationary periods of five years or more - and those who violate their probation make up about one-third of Delaware's prison population.
Capping probation would be "a shift back to the original intent" of the probation system, Brady said at a news conference in Legislative Hall.
Vaughn, a former corrections commissioner, said the bill would free prison beds for serious offenders.
Brady said that if the legislation passes, current probationers would be able to petition the courts to modify their sentences.
The Sentencing Accountability Commission, in a March 11 report to the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee, said Delaware keeps offenders on probation "much longer than is necessary to achieve rational sentencing goals."
Thomas P. Eichler, executive coordinator of the criminal-justice reform group Stand Up for What's Right and Just, called the bill "a great step forward. There needs to be other steps, too."
Rep. Clifford G. "Biff" Lee, R-Laurel, said Delaware could divert some of the savings that might come from probation reform to the home-confinement program.
Brady and the lawmakers also endorsed House Bill 52, which would give judges flexibility in waiving some minimum mandatory sentences. Judges could waive prison time in cases involving first-time drug offenders with no prior violent felonies who possessed relatively small amounts of drugs.
Judges also would be able to impose home confinement in some motor-vehicle cases that now call for prison terms, provided injuries or alcohol were not involved.
The same bill also would boost mandatory prison sentences for violent felons who possess firearms.
House Majority Leader Wayne A. Smith, R-Clair Manor, called H.B. 52 "an excellent balance" on drug offenses.
Legislation to give judges flexibility on minimum mandatory sentences died last year after being opposed by then-Senate President Pro Tem Thomas B. Sharp.
Reach J.L. Miller at 678-4271 or jlmiller@delawareonline.com.
