CONTRIBUTORS

Criminal justice reform can't wait. Delaware leaders should act now. (Opinion)

Margaret Rose Henry and J.J. Johnson

Margaret Rose Henry is a former state senator. J.J. Johnson is a former state representative. 

In March, Democratic leaders from the House and Senate held a press conference to introduce a package of 19 criminal justice reform bills.

House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst called the changes outlined in the bills a “giant first step in a new vision for justice.” Attorney General Kathy Jennings spoke out strongly in support of the package, calling it “the boldest package of criminal justice reforms in modern Delaware history.”

Having spent much of our own careers as public servants fighting for fairness and proportionality in criminal justice, we agree about the game-changing nature of these reforms. We applaud our former colleagues, our Attorney General, and the outspoken freshmen legislators who have joined them for their work up to this point.

But time is running short, and none of the bills have passed both chambers and been signed into law. Now is the time to deliver.

Related opinion: Putting more people in prison doesn't stop crime. It can do the opposite.

Criminal justice reform is urgent. Delaware incarcerates more people per capita than any of its neighboring states and our prisons are operating beyond their capacity.

The criminal justice system’s impact does not fall solely on the person convicted. It affects whole families and whole communities.

Sen. Margaret Rose Henry, D-Wilmington East, is the Senate Majority Leader

According to the Center for American Progress, 1 in 27 children in America has an incarcerated parent, and the number is higher for African American children: 1 in 9. We owe it to families and communities — to the whole state — to ensure that our justice system prioritizes keeping communities safe, treating all people fairly, and enabling rehabilitation and second chances.

Each day that goes by without change means another child or adult is swallowed into a system that, statistically, they are unlikely ever to escape. Delaware has a 65% re-conviction rate within three years of leaving prison, a probation system that drives more than 50% of our prison admissions, and laws that penalize poor people, by, among other things, taking away their driver’s licenses if they can’t pay court fines.

We have created a revolving door to prison. 

These bills return discretion to judges and restore balance to the plea bargaining process, remove penalties that fall more harshly on people of color and the poor, and expand opportunities for second chances.

Rep. James Johnson is a Democrat serving the 16th Representative District

They also build on a series of changes to the juvenile justice system that were at the core of our work. There are juvenile justice bills pending that establish a minimum age of prosecution, specify that the age of offense and not arrest should control whether a child is tried in adult court, and decriminalize status offenses like underage drinking — recognizing that treating children like adults pushes them deeper into the arms of the penal system rather than nurturing their capacity to change as they mature.

We agree that people who commit crimes must be held accountable and that public safety is a paramount concern. But these values do not conflict with goals of fairness, transparency, and rehabilitation. A system rigged to favor conviction, incarceration, and punishment at the expense of other values will undermine accountability and safety in the long run. 

We are also glad to see that many of these reform bills have advanced with bipartisan support and sponsorship. In April, the Adult Expungement Reform Act passed the Senate unanimously. And a few weeks later, the Drug Code Reform bill followed with another unanimous Senate vote in support.

Restoring fairness and recognizing that incarceration should be a last resort are not partisan ideas.

State legislatures across the country — in red and blue states — have begun to recognize that mass incarceration is a misguided policy and a waste of resources, both fiscal and human.

For too long, our criminal justice system has not delivered on its promise to be just. In March, members of the 150th General Assembly committed to changing that. Now is the time to act on those words.