Delaware
Delaware has a Commission on Forensic Science that oversees the Division of Forensic Science, but no statute requires the Division’s lab to be accredited and no analyst license. Since August 20, 2025, sexual assault kits must be tested within 90 days of receipt, and kits go to a federal or accredited private lab at state expense if the Division cannot meet its deadlines. In July 2025 the Delaware Supreme Court held that the proponent of expert testimony must prove reliability by a preponderance and treated the 2023 federal Rule 702 guidance as important material, though D.R.E. 702 itself was not amended.
- Sources checked
- Part of
- Forensic Ledger
At a glance
- Oversight body
- The Commission on Forensic Science (29 Del. C. § 4714) has 10 members, sits in the Department of Safety and Homeland Security, and must “provide oversight and guidance” to the Division of Forensic Science. Its duties include monitoring the quality assurance structure, including chain of custody for drug evidence, “professional competency and accreditation requirements,” and reviewing Division rules. The Division Director must run an audit process covering evidence accountability, certifications and security, and report yearly to the Commission and the Governor. The Division (§ 4701) holds the former Office of the Chief Medical Examiner functions and the Forensic Science Laboratory.
- Lab accreditation
- No statute requires the Division’s laboratory to be accredited. The Commission must “evaluate and monitor professional competency and accreditation requirements” (§ 4714(d)(6)). If the Division cannot meet the sexual assault kit deadlines, testing “must be conducted by a federal or accredited, private crime laboratory, at the State’s expense” (§ 4713A(e), added in 2025).
- Analyst licensing
- None found. The toxicologist must hold a Ph.D. in toxicology or pharmacology, or a master’s degree with at least three years in analytical toxicology (29 Del. C. § 4703(b)).
- Admissibility standard
- Daubert and Kumho, adopted as “the correct interpretation” of D.R.E. 702 in M.G. Bancorporation, Inc. v. Le Beau, 737 A.2d 513 (Del. 1999). D.R.E. 702 tracks Federal Rule 702 as it stood at the end of 2000, restyled in 2017 (D.R.E.). In 2025 the Supreme Court said “DRE 702 has not been amended at the present time to mirror the 2023 amendments to FRE 702” but treated the federal committee’s 2023 guidance as “important material to consider,” and held the proponent must show sufficiency and reliability by a preponderance (In re Zantac). The 2023 text is not adopted; its substance is applied by case law. By statute, DNA testing “shall be deemed to be a reliable scientific technique” in criminal proceedings (29 Del. C. § 4713(a)).
- Post-conviction forensic relief
- No. A person may move for forensic DNA testing within three years after the conviction is final, and for a new trial on the results (11 Del. C. § 4504). A bill to add a remedy for a change in scientific information is in Senate Finance (see pending).
- DNA database scope
- Conviction-based. Samples are taken from people convicted on or after June 16, 1994 of listed offenses in Title 11 (subpart D of subchapter II of chapter 5, and subchapter V on offenses against children and vulnerable adults), from everyone convicted of a Title 11 felony after July 1, 2003 (29 Del. C. § 4713(b)), and from sex offenders at registration (11 Del. C. § 4120). No arrestee collection. Since 2025, profiles too partial for the national index but with enough alleles stay in the state index for statewide comparison (§ 4713A(d)(1)).
- Facial recognition
- No statute regulating government or police facial recognition was found. The criminal justice information chapter defines “biometric data” to include “facial recognition data” but sets no rules for its use (11 Del. C. ch. 86).
Changes, 2023 to 2026
DNA data bank rewritten; sexual assault kit deadlines, victim rights and evidence retention added
Section 4713: the Division must “establish and maintain the State DNA Index System,” compatible with national index policies, with results recorded in CODIS. Prosecutors or police must tell the Division when an investigation finds no crime occurred, and the sample is then not analyzed. Collection is now by “qualified personnel” instead of a list of medical professionals. The Division notes results in the state criminal justice information system and sends verified matches to the Delaware Information Analysis Center. Biological samples from unsolved sexual assault cases may not be destroyed until 20 years after collection, or before a victim who was a minor turns 40.
New § 4713A: police must submit a kit within 30 days after contacting the Division, and the Division must complete DNA analysis within 90 days of receipt, with a yearly average of no more than 90 days. If it cannot, kits go to “a federal or accredited, private crime laboratory, at the State’s expense.” Missing a deadline is not a ground to challenge or exclude evidence, dismiss a case, set aside a conviction or claim damages. New victim rights (enacted as § 9403B of Title 11 and printed in the Code as § 9405): all kits must be submitted; victims may learn the kit’s location and testing status, whether a profile was obtained and entered in the state or national index, and whether there is a match; and victims get 20 days’ written notice before evidence in an unsolved case is destroyed, and the evidence must be kept if the victim asks. The DNA definitions moved to new 29 Del. C. § 4701A, and “DNA profile” now refers to short tandem repeat analysis.
For practitioners: The 90-day deadline cannot be used to exclude results or dismiss; it can be used to ask which lab tested a kit and when. Victims can now request kit status directly.
Delaware Supreme Court: D.R.E. 702 does not favor admission; proponent proves reliability by a preponderance
Reversing the Superior Court, the court held the trial judge “erred in adopting a standard that favored or presumed the admissibility of expert testimony.” The proponent “bears the burden of establishing that the opinion is based on sufficient facts or data and on dependable principles and methods that are reliably applied to the facts of the case,” each by a preponderance of the evidence. A judge “should not dismiss challenges to the sufficiency or reliability of an expert opinion by viewing the disputes as questions for the jury to weigh.” The court noted D.R.E. 702 had not been amended to mirror the 2023 federal change, but treated the federal Advisory Committee’s 2023 guidance as “important material to consider.” The rule text did not change.
For practitioners: A civil mass-tort case, but the standard governs D.R.E. 702 in every case. Cite it when a criminal court treats a challenge to a forensic method as a matter of weight for the jury.
Pending bills
The General Assembly’s 2026 session ended June 30, 2026. None of these bills passed:
- SS 3 for SB 58 would add 11 Del. C. § 4505, “Postconviction remedy - change in scientific information”: relief where forensic scientific evidence was not available before conviction or undermines forensic evidence used at trial or plea, with an expert affidavit and a “reasonable probability” of a different outcome, and a hearing within 180 days. In Senate Finance since May 14, 2026 (SB 58).
- SS 1 for SB 57 would remove the three-year filing limit for post-conviction DNA testing, make testing mandatory when the criteria are met, allow retesting likely to be more probative, and lower the new-trial standard from clear and convincing evidence to a “reasonable probability.” In Senate Finance since June 9, 2025 (SB 57).
- SB 214, on preserving biological evidence while a crime is unsolved or a convicted person is in custody, was reported out of committee on June 4, 2026, with no floor vote shown. The legislature’s page lists the measure with a Senate amendment; which version is current was not confirmed (SB 214).
Checked and unchanged
- 29 Del. C. § 4714 (Commission on Forensic Science): last amended by 83 Del. Laws c. 364; no 2023 to 2026 change.
- D.R.E. 702: text as amended in 2001 and restyled in 2017; no amending order found on the court rules page.
- 11 Del. C. § 4504 (post-conviction DNA testing): not amended.
- The chapter titles of 84 and 85 Del. Laws were scanned. No other forensic act was found; no statute or 2023 to 2026 bill on investigative genetic genealogy, Rapid DNA, digital forensics or machine-generated evidence.
- Outside this tracker’s scope: HB 134 (2023, 84 Del. Laws c. 117, death investigation) and the 2024 next-of-kin act.
Last updated October 20, 2026Source: United States Council for Law & InvestigationCite as: United States Council for Law & Investigation, “Delaware forensic science oversight: Forensic Ledger,” uscli.org/forensic-science-tracker/delaware (last updated October 20, 2026). Text licensed CC BY 4.0.