DOVER – House lawmakers passed the first leg of a constitutional amendment to effectively prevent the death penalty from being imposed upon any convict in the State of Delaware.
House Substitute 1 for House Bill 35, sponsored by Representative Sean Lynn and Senator Kyra Hoffner, would amend the Delaware Constitution to prohibit the use of the death penalty as a form of punishment.
This is the second iteration of the bill, which was championed by former Rep. Sherry Dorsey Walker in the 152nd General Assembly.
While failing to gain the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly that is necessary to amend the Delaware Constitution, the 152nd GA did pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty.
Dorsey Walker’s HB 70 was signed into law in September 2024, eliminating the death penalty and instructing 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.
HB 35 differs from HB 70 in that it adds extra safeguards to ensure that the use of the death penalty is never used in Delaware again.
HB 35 enshrines the prohibition of the death penalty to the State Constitution, making certain that it cannot be affected by federal and state court decisions nor by a simple majority action of future legislatures.
“The hammer of justice should not be used as a tool for execution,” said Rep. Sean Lynn.
“Last year we passed legislation to eliminate the use of the death penalty in Delaware, but my colleagues’ hesitance to enshrine that decision into the State Constitution is the very reason that we must do it. For decades we have continued to back the wrong horse in our choices around capital punishment. It’s time that we bring this deplorable chapter to a close.”
Since 1972, the Delaware’s capital sentencing guidelines have changed 5 times. This legislation would put an end to that. If the state’s constitution is effectively amended in the next General Assembly, any future change to the death penalty would require another constitutional amendment.
“Over the last 60 years our state has had a dysfunctional relationship with capital punishment. We have abolished it and brought it back; we have attempted to cure unconstitutional provisions of it over and over, without success; and we have not made Delaware a safer place to live by its use. The time is now to end state-sponsored killing in the name of justice here in Delaware. It is time to relegate this failed policy to the dustbin of history,” said Kevin O’Connell, Chief Defender of the Office of Defense Services.
Data from the National Death Penalty Information Center exemplifies how the death penalty has disproportionately affected communities of color, with Black and Hispanic inmates making up 55% of those on death row in 2024.
Since 1973, at least 200 people who had been wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in the U.S. have been exonerated.
“As we work toward a criminal justice system rooted in fairness, restoration, and compassion, there is simply no place for a punishment as outdated and inhumane as the death penalty,” said Sen. Kyra Hoffner.
“I’m proud to live in a state where our Supreme Court has already struck down the death penalty, and even prouder to serve as Senate prime sponsor for legislation that builds on that important decision by enshrining the prohibition of capital punishment into the State Constitution.”
HB 35 now heads to the Senate for consideration. Because it is a constitutional amendment, this legislation does not require the Governor’s signature. However, it must be passed again in the next General Assembly in order to go into effect.
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