Matthew Albright

The News Journal

Delaware will scale back mandatory penalties for repeat offenders, sometimes called "three-strikes laws," after the House of Representatives approved a bill Tuesday.

It is a win for state leaders and advocates who say the country needs to rethink its approach to its justice system after years of "tough on crime" policies caused incarceration rates that dwarf most other developing countries.

"This is not legislation for New Castle County; this is not legislation for Delaware. This legislation is a trend going throughout the country," said Rep. J.J. Johnson, D-New Castle. "You can't reform somebody when you put them in jail for life."

Gov. Jack Markell has said he will sign the measure.

Delaware's habitual offender law currently requires life sentences for offenders who commit three violent felonies and mandates that a person who committed three nonviolent felonies and a violent felony receive the violent felony's maximum sentence.

RELATED: Inmates serving life hope for end to three-strikes law

RELATED: Senate passes changes to "three-strikes" sentencing law

The new law will reduce some, but not all such mandatory sentences, giving judges more leeway to make sentencing decisions.

Some minimum mandatory penalties would remain, but some are reduced. And there will be no mandatory life sentences because of habitual offender laws, though judges will still be able to impose life sentences if they choose.

It would also start a review process by which some offenders serving sentences because they are habitual offenders can appeal that sentence.

The House passed the bill, 29-11. Those who opposed it, all Republicans, argued it could lead to dangerous criminals getting back on the street and could take away tools for law enforcement to pressure those caught in drug activity to give up "bigger fish."

"We need to figure out how we can protect the victims first and then worry about the ones who victimized them," said Richard Collins, R-Millsboro.

Rep. Jeff Spiegelman, R-Clayton, said he liked much of the bill but was troubled by the prospect of reducing some sentences. He said he had a friend who was held at gunpoint by someone who broke into her home – the offender received a habitual offender sentence.

"The state made a contract with this victim," Spiegelman said. "The state of Delaware said to the victim, 'We have put this person away for this amount of time; you can go about recovering from the harm that was caused to you.' This legislation might take that contract away."

Top state leaders backed the changes, including Gov. Jack Markell and Attorney General Matt Denn.

"This legislation is designed to address some irrational and disproportionate minimum mandatory jail sentences – such as one that provides the same minimum mandatory sentence for someone who burglarizes a house as for someone who commits murder – while still allowing judges the discretion to provide longer sentences when they deem necessary," Denn said.

"It is meaningful step in reforming one aspect of the criminal justice system that disproportionately punished nonviolent offenders while preserving public safety and continuing long prison sentences for those who deserve them."

Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@delawareonline.com, (302) 324-2428 or on Twitter @TNJ_malbright.