STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1301

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.C.R. No. 84

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 84, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE CONVENING OF A TASK FORCE TO REPORT ON STRATEGIES AND RESOURCES TO REDUCE RECIDIVISM AMONG NATIVE HAWAIIANS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to convene a task force for the purpose of producing a comprehensive report on strategies and resources needed to reduce recidivism among Native Hawaiians, to be submitted to the Governor and the Legislature prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2012.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Community Alliance on Prisons, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, Imi Ke Ola Mau, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, and three individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Judiciary.

 

     Your Committee finds that due to a number of historic and socioeconomic factors, Native Hawaiians make up a disproportionately high percentage of the inmate population in the state prison system, accounting for thirty-nine percent of the incarcerated population but only twenty-four percent of the overall state population.

 

     Your Committee specifically notes a portion of the testimony submitted by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs on this measure:

 

"OHA's recent report, 'The Disparate Treatment of Native Hawaiians in the Criminal Justice System,' shows that the Native Hawaiians in the criminal justice system accumulate at each stage from arrest through parole. While Native Hawaiians are arrested at a comparable rate to other populations, Native Hawaiians are more likely to be incarcerated, have longer sentences, and more likely to have their parole revoked."

 

     Native Hawaiians face disparate treatment in the Hawaii criminal justice system in many areas, including prison sentences, probations, and parole revocations.  Your Committee believes that reducing the rate of recidivism among Native Hawaiians is a matter of the utmost urgency for our State.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 84, S.D. 1, and recommends its adoption.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Government Operations, and Military Affairs,

 

 

 

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair