UPDATE
On Wednesday, June 11, Senate Bill 8 was amended to add substance use testing and curfew requirements back on the list of standard conditions. Due to this amendement, we could no longer support SB 8.
Our efforts shifted to ensure Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Bill 8 (SS 1 for SB 8) was pulled or no longer moved in the Senate. We succeeded. SS 1 for SB 8 was never heard on the Senate floor.
Now, we are focused on ensuring the passage of Senate Bill 7. SB 7, the most significant change to how probation conditions are set in Delaware in decades, is a stronger bill than last year's SS 3 for SB 4, and the first time we've been able to move a probation reform bill addressing one of our campaign goals (tailored conditions) through a full chamber.
Although the version of SB 8 we wanted was not possible this year, multiple pathways remain to remove substance use testing and curfew requirements from the standard conditions list in the future.
Senate Bill 7 (SB 7) and Senate Bill 8 (SB 8) tailor conditions to the individual and limit the use of some existing standard conditions, like substance use testing of all people on probation, that create unnecessary barriers to successful re-entry. By streamlining Delaware’s probation conditions, SB 7 and SB 8 reduces the risk of people on probation being subjected to overly burdensome requirements or rearrested for technical violations.
This is an important step toward more effective and efficient reentry in Delaware. Meaningful reform must center individual need — particularly when it comes to substance use conditions that do little to support true rehabilitation or reduce Delaware’s mass incarceration problem. Together, SB 7 and SB 8 will make conditions tailored to individual’s circumstances the norm in Delaware. This includes only imposing substance use conditions when actually needed and ensuring that people for whom substance use conditions won’t help are exempt from those conditions entirely.
