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Senate panel hears constitutional amendment to replace cash bail with risk-based pretrial detention
Summary
Senator Brian Townsend presented Senate Bill 11 to the Delaware Senate Executive Committee as the second leg of a constitutional amendment to change pretrial release and detention from a cash-bail model to a risk-based system with heightened procedural protections.
Senator Brian Townsend presented Senate Bill 11 to the Delaware Senate Executive Committee as the second leg of a constitutional amendment changing the state's approach to pretrial release. Townsend said the amendment would remove the guaranteed constitutional right to bail and instead allow detention of some people charged with serious felonies when the prosecution meets heightened standards and procedural protections are in place.
"No one should languish in prison because they can't afford small amounts of bail, pretrial," Townsend said, describing the existing cash-bail system as inherently inequitable. He told committee members the amendment is paired…
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