DOVER – In response to the House’s failure to pass House Bill 301, legislation to amend the
Delaware Constitution to prohibit the imposition of the death penalty, Representative Sherry
Dorsey Walker issued the following statement:
“The General Assembly’s passage of House Bill 70 on Thursday gave hope of a brighter future
for the State of Delaware. However, the House’s failure to pass House Bill 301 shows us that
there are legislators who believe that the decision as to whether someone should live or die still
belongs in the hands of the state.
“Between 1972 and 2016, the state’s capital sentencing procedure changed five times. By
explicitly adding the prohibition of the death penalty to the Delaware Constitution, HB 301
would have ensured that there would be no reemergence of the punishment moving forward.
“The death penalty is cruel, unjust, racially biased, and will always carry the imminent risk of
executing an innocent person. As a State, we must stand firmly against it.
“House Bill 70, which will eliminate the death penalty and instruct that any adult convicted of
first–degree murder to instead be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of
probation, parole, or any other sentence reduction, ensures that Delawareans are protected once it
is signed into law.
“Thank you to my colleagues who voted in favor of HB 301. It is my hope that the 153rd
General Assembly continues the fight we began this year, and are able to successfully enshrine
the prohibition of the death penalty in the Delaware Constitution.
“Since 1973, at least 197 people who had been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in the
U.S. have been exonerated. We should not be in the business of state-sanctioned murder.”