This Act provides clarification that all individuals currently or prospectively serving as mentors to one or more students through a mentoring program under the Department of Education must submit to state and federal criminal background checks, and that they are subject to continued criminal record monitoring for 1 year.
This Act makes it a crime to knowingly manufacture, sell, offer to sell, transfer, or possess a vehicle security circumvention device, or to aid or permit another to use a vehicle security circumvention device. This Act also requires individuals to report a lost or stolen vehicle security circumvention device to a law enforcement agency within 48 hours of becoming aware of the loss or theft. This Act does not include a special penalty as the Chapter already provides a penalty for misdemeanors, which includes a fine not less than $28.75 nor more than $115, or imprisonment not less than 30 days nor more than 90 days, or both. Additionally, for each subsequent offense the person shall be fined not less than $115 nor more than $230, or imprisoned not less than 90 days nor more than 6 months, or both. This Act requires a greater than majority vote for passage because § 28 of Article IV of the Delaware Constitution requires the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly to create a new crime within the jurisdiction of the Court of Common Pleas, Family Court, or Justice of the Peace Court.
This Act is a result of the Joint Legislative Oversight and Sunset Committee's (JLOSC) review of the Council on Correction. In 2021, JLOSC sponsored Senate Bill No. 129 of the 151st General Assembly, which, among other updates to the Council on Correction's statute, tasked the Criminal Justice Council with providing administrative support to the Council on Correction. This partnership was intended to provide the Council on Correction with needed staff support and training opportunities. SB 129 included a 5-year sunset provision to review the efficacy of the partnership. Because the partnership has been successful, this Act removes the sunset provision so that the partnership may continue. Otherwise, the partnership will expire on September 17, 2026.
In 2013, Congress enacted the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013, 34 U.S.C. § 60105, which requires states to report to the U.S. Department of Justice the deaths of individuals who die in the custody of law enforcement. Failure to comply may result in the reduction of certain federal grant funds. In 2024, the Criminal Justice Council, which is responsible for ensuring Delaware's participation in the data collection required by the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013, arranged for the Statistical Analysis Center to serve as the Criminal Justice Center's agent to coordinate and manage the logistics of this data collection. The Criminal Justice Council and Statistical Analysis Center issued guidance to law enforcement on the requirements of the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013 and the process and procedures to be used to comply with these reporting requirements. This Act codifies the process and procedures established by the Criminal Justice Council and Statistical Analysis Center related to the reporting required by the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013. In addition, this Act requires compliance reporting and provides that a law-enforcement agency that fails to comply with this Act is ineligible for certain funding until the agency complies with this Act.
The purpose of this Act is to protect victims of sexual assault, discrimination, or harassment from retaliatory lawsuits that arise when a victim of sexual assault discloses information regarding an act of sexual assault, discrimination, or harassment. Specifically, this Act protects assault victims from defamation lawsuits by placing a higher burden of proof on the complainant, even if the complainant is a private figure. It also entitles a prevailing defendant in a defamation lawsuit to attorneys’ fees and costs, actual damages, and punitive damages.
Current law prohibits persons subject to Family Court protective orders from purchasing or possessing deadly weapons, with some exceptions. This Act extends this prohibition to individuals with out-of-state protective orders as well.
This Act requires that the court consider the existence of a military protective order as a factor in favor of granting an emergency protective order or a temporary sexual violence protective order. It further requires that a law-enforcement officer notify the agency that entered a military protective order against an individual, if the law-enforcement officer has probable cause to believe that the individual violated the military protective order.
This Act adds virtual currency to the money laundering definition in the criminal code and gives the State legal authority to attempt to return virtual currency for victims. It also provides that if money cannot be returned to the victims of the crime, or are outside of the United States, it should be disposed of per order of the Superior Court.
Under current Delaware law, a minor cannot be guilty of the crime of prostitution under § 1342 of Title 11. This Act removes references to minors engaging in prostitution and being prostituted in favor of using the term "exploited" or “exploitation”, which is defined to mean acts by a minor that would constitute prostitution under § 1342(a) of Title 11 if that minor were 18 years old or older. This change is twofold. (1) It creates a separate term to refer to the exploitation of a minor since minors cannot be guilty of prostitution and prostitution is not otherwise defined outside of the offense in § 1342(a) of Title 11, which excludes minors; and (2) Recognizes a growing trend nationally and internationally to remove language that misleadingly implies that children are able to consent to, and participate in, prostitution. The Interagency Working Group on Sexual Exploitation of Children, comprised of representatives from the United Nations, INTERPOL, and organizations working to end the sexual exploitation of children, published a manual containing terminology guidelines for the protection of children from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. While there is no single recommended term, attempts should be made to avoid stigmatizing a child and suggesting that the child had culpability in any acts undertaken. Sections 8 through 11 of this Act update internal references elsewhere in the Code to account for the addition of subsection designations in §§ 1352 and 1353. Sections 12 through 13 of this Act add the definition of “illicit massage establishment” from House Bill 409 and update it to account for the change in terminology that this Act makes. This addition of and update to the definition of “illicit massage establishment” only occurs if House Bill No. 409 is enacted. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
This Act aligns the definition of child sex trafficking victim with the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000. Under the federal TVPA of 2000, any minor who engages in commercial sex is identified as a trafficking victim regardless of whether a trafficker or controlling third party (e.g. a pimp) is involved or identified. The requirement of a third party minimizes the role buyers play in fueling demand and engaging in the exploitation that trafficking laws are designed to punish and prevents minor victims from being identified as victims. To align with the TVPA of 2000, the offenses of trafficking an individual and sexual servitude are amended so that the obtaining or purchasing of a minor for the purpose of commercial sexual activity is an offense, regardless of whether there is present a third party who maintains or makes that minor available. By ensuring these minors are identified as human trafficking victims, these minors will gain access to federal and state resources to support recovery. This Act also makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.
