Delaware abolishes the death penalty, but some say it does not go far enough
On Thursday, lawmakers passed a bill to remove the death penalty from some of Delaware’s laws. However, Democratic leadership in the state’s House of Representatives has so far stalled a bill that would have removed the penalty from the state constitution.
Delaware no longer has anyone on death row or carrying out death sentences after rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Delaware Supreme Court in 2016 invalidated the state’s death penalty system. But opponents of the death penalty argue that Thursday’s vote is necessary to hedge against future efforts by lawmakers to fix those legal flaws and reinstate the punishment.
And the passionate debate on the issue in the Delaware Senate on Thursday suggests that there is still a desire among some state lawmakers to reinstate the penalty.
Proponents of the abolition of the death penalty cite data showing that the death penalty is not an effective deterrent to crime, is statistically more frequently imposed on black defendants, is unpopular with the general public, and in some cases has been carried out on people who were later proven innocent.
They also pointed to the history of this penalty in Delaware over the past 75 years, pointing out that it has been struck down several times by the courts or the legislature, only to be reinstated on the backs of reactionary lawmakers who wanted to show that they would have done something if a particularly serious crime had caught the public’s attention.
Read more: The death penalty is no longer used in Delaware. Why is it being discussed again in parliament?
In Thursday’s debate, lawmakers who support the death penalty cited famous and heinous murders, the murder of a police officer and the pain of victims of violent killings as reasons to reinstate the punishment. Republican Senator Dave Lawson referred to some people who committed such famous murders as “animals.”
“There are some people in this world who do not have the mindset necessary to be human,” Lawson said.
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After almost an hour of debate, the bill was passed with 14 votes in favor and seven against. Senator Darius Brown was the only Democrat to vote against the bill. Two weeks ago, the bill was passed in the state House of Representatives and is now expected to be signed by Governor John Carney.
Will the House leadership put the constitutional amendment on hold?
Essentially, the bill passed Thursday removes the death penalty from Delaware’s criminal laws, but it could be reinstated in the future just as easily as it was removed. Senate Republicans introduced a bill just last year that would open the door to its future use by fixing the constitutional flaws that the courts have found invalidated the death penalty in Delaware.
On Thursday, Republicans argued that the punishment was fair and could be implemented in a way that would withstand legal scrutiny by the courts and eliminate the possibility of the state killing innocent people.
For this reason, proponents of abolition have pushed a separate bill that would remove the penalty from the state constitution. Amendments to the state constitution require a larger majority to pass, as well as passage in two consecutive sessions of the Assembly, so removing the penalty from the constitution would mean that future attempts to reinstate it would face a higher hurdle to overcome.
Abolitionists argue that support for abolishing this punishment – especially among the strong Democratic majority in the state legislature – should now also flow into a constitutional amendment to further ensure that the state stays out of the unjust and imperfect business of killing people.
But Democratic leadership in the state’s House of Representatives shows no willingness to go that far. Since the bill passed a House committee in March, they have not brought a separate bill, House Bill 301, that would remove the penalty from the state constitution, to a vote.
Bringing this bill to a vote in the House is the prerogative of House Speaker Valerie Longhurst. She voted for the bill, which the Senate passed on Thursday when it passed the House two weeks ago, but has not ruled on the proposed constitutional amendment.
On Thursday, neither she nor a spokesman for the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives responded to a request for comment asking whether she might bring up the bill on Sunday, the last day of the 2024 parliamentary session.
It is possible that the constitutional amendment could pass both the House and Senate on the final, marathon day of the legislature if it receives the necessary support and if senators override provisions that would normally require the bill to be heard by a Senate committee.
Last call: What to expect in the final days of the Delaware General Assembly legislative session
Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or [email protected].
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