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DELAWARE TASK FORCE

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On Monday, July 18th 2011 The Racial Justice Improvement Project Delaware Task Force  held a workshop training event on Bias-Free Decision Making at the Dover Sheraton Hotel in Dover, Delaware. All Forty-Two Supervisors of the Delaware Probation Department were required to attend this training. The following members of the Delaware Task Force:  Curt Shockley, Director of Probation and Parole, Justice Henry DuPont Ridgley, and Colonel Robert Coupe, representing the Delaware State Police, presented during this day-long training.  Special thanks to Delaware Task Force Members Amy Quinlan and Drewry Fennell.


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The Delaware
 Task Force is examining probation revocation practices in the state.  The task force has collected data to determine whether African Americans are revoked at a higher rate than similarly-situated White probationers.   The Task Force has conducted a statewide training for probation officers on “bias-free decision making.”  

In addition to looking at the specific topic of probation, the Task Force is also working on the implementation of the Delaware Criminal Justice Council's Declaration of Leading Practices to Protect Civil Rights and Promote Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Criminal Justice System. Delaware Task Force in the News.

The Delaware Department of Correction would like to implement a mechanism to manage and track probation violations and the type of sanctions that are implemented on Probationers as a result of violation.  In order to accomplish this, the Department would like to integrate these functions within the DACS system.  This will allow the users to leverage existing functions within DACS to track and report information about probationers.  This project would allow the Department to contribute to the Delaware’s Racial Justice Initiative Project by providing real time access and reporting to key indicators.




Some of the Key Objectives of this project include:

  • Leverage existing DACS functions and processes to include better tracking of demographic indicators associated with violations, sanctions and outcomes. 
  • Provide the Probation Officer’s tools and information at their fingertips to make objective and informed decisions.
  • Provide a systematic guideline for imposing sanctions to offenders when completing a Violation Report.
  • Including Intake, Classification, Case Management and other security functions,
  • Provide the ability to generate statistical reporting on key indicators including gender,  race, violations, level of violation, sanctions imposed and severity. 

The following modifications would be developed in DACS to support the above objectives:

  •  Modify the existing Violation Report to include graduated sanctions. The graduated sanctions system would recommend to the Probation Officer a list of possible sanctions based on pre-defined criteria including current level of supervision, severity of the violation and number of previous violations. 
  • Modify the existing reporting (LSI-R, Progress Reports, Violation Reports and Admin Warrants) to include demographic information including race, gender and lead charge.
  • Modify the existing Violation Report to include the Recommended Level of Supervision on the printed reports.
  •  Modify the List of Probation Violation Report, List of Progress Reports and List of Admin Warrants excel downloads to include the case closing method.

The implementation of these functions will provide the Department with a tool to better manage its offender population and will enable the implementation of operational efficiencies.  Furthermore, these changes would allow the Probation Officers to have a guideline that drives the sanctions based on predefined objective criteria.




Current Events in the Delaware Area

Delaware Supreme Court and Delaware Criminal Justice Council Co-Sponsored Summit on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Criminal Justice System (Delaware Courts Press Release, Sept. 12, 2007)

Data Collection

Analysis of Wilmington, DE Crime Data

Wilmington – 2007 Crime Rates (Summary)

Delaware Minority Contact Report

Race and Incarceration in Delaware

Relevant Links

2011 Race and Incarceration in Delaware Report

2010 Racial Justice Improvement Project Proposal 

2010 Racial Justice Improvement Project Proposal Part II

2010 Racial Justice Improvement Project Proposal – Part III

Press Release ABA RJIP April 27 2010

Press Release ABA RJIP September 9, 2010

Delaware Center for Justice

Delaware Criminal Justice Counsel Membership

The State of Sentencing 2011  - Developments in Policy and Practice

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