Delaware Code
Chapter 42. CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENSES; SENTENCES
§ 4217. Jurisdiction over sentence retained.

(a) In any case where the trial court has imposed an aggregate sentence of incarceration at Level V in excess of 1 year, the court shall retain jurisdiction to modify the sentence to reduce the level of custody or time to be served under the provisions of this section.
(b) The court may modify the sentence solely on the basis of an application filed by the Department of Correction for good cause shown which certifies that the release of the defendant shall not constitute a substantial risk to the community or the defendant's own self.
(c) Good cause under this section shall include, but not be limited to, rehabilitation of the offender, serious medical illness or infirmity of the offender and prison overcrowding.
(d) (1) Any application filed by the Department of Correction under this section shall be filed with the Board of Parole. The Board of Parole shall have the authority to promulgate reasonable regulations concerning the form and content of said applications. The Board of Parole may require the Department of Correction to provide it with any information in the possession of the Department reasonably necessary for the Board to assess such applications.
(2) Following the receipt of any application for modification filed by the Department of Correction which conforms with any regulations and requirements of the Board of Parole promulgated pursuant to paragraph (d)(1) of this section, the Board of Parole shall hold a hearing under the provisions of § 4350(a) of this title for the purpose of making a recommendation to the trial court as to the approval or disapproval of the application. This hearing shall not be held unless written notice of the hearing is provided to the Attorney General's office at least 30 days prior to scheduled hearing date. A copy of the Department of Correction's application for modification shall be provided to the Attorney General's office along with written notice of the hearing date.
(3) Following the hearing described in paragraph (d)(2) of this section, the Board of Parole may reject an application for modification if it determines that the defendant constitutes a substantial risk to the community, or if it determines that the application is not based on good cause. Notwithstanding any provisions of this section to the contrary, any application rejected pursuant to this paragraph shall not be forwarded to the Superior Court, and any offender who is the subject of such rejected application shall not be the subject of a subsequent application for modification for at least 1 year, except in the case of serious medical illness or infirmity of said offender.
(4) Only in those cases where the Board by a majority vote recommends a modification of the sentence shall the application be submitted to the Court for consideration.
(e) Upon receipt of the recommendation of the Board of Parole, the court may in its discretion grant or deny the application for modification of sentence. The Court may request additional information, but need not hold further hearings on the application. The Court shall not act upon the application without first providing the Attorney General's office with a reasonable period of time to be heard on the matter. Should the Court deny the application because of a determination that the defendant constitutes a substantial risk to the community, or because it determines that the application lacks good cause, the defendant who is the subject of the denied application shall not be the subject of a subsequent application for modification for at least 1 year, except in the case of serious medical illness or infirmity of the defendant.
(f) Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, in the case of any offender who is serving a sentence of incarceration at Level V imposed pursuant to a conviction for any crime, the Court may order that said offender shall be ineligible for sentence modification pursuant to this section until a specified portion of said Level V sentence has been served, except that no offender who is serving a sentence of incarceration at Level V imposed pursuant to a conviction for a violent felony in Title 11 shall be eligible for sentence modification pursuant to this section until the offender has served at least 1/2 of the originally imposed Level V sentence, and no offender who is serving a statutory mandatory term of incarceration at Level V imposed pursuant to a conviction for any offense set forth in Title 11 shall be eligible for sentence modification pursuant to this section during the mandatory portion of said sentence. Nothing in this paragraph shall preclude a sentence modification pursuant to this section which is based solely upon serious medical illness or infirmity of the offender.
(g) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to limit the court's ability to modify a sentence within the scope of the trial court's duly promulgated rules.
(h) For purposes of this section, “rehabilitation” is defined as the process of restoring an individual to a useful and constructive place in society especially through some form of vocational, correctional, or therapeutic retraining.

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