STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1376

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.C.R. No. 128

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 128, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY TO FORM A WORKING GROUP TO EXAMINE SMARTER SENTENCING TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY AND RELIABILITY OF STATE CRIMINAL SENTENCING PRACTICES,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

 

     (1)  Request the Department of Public Safety to form a working group to examine smarter sentencing to improve the quality and reliability of state criminal sentencing policies and practices; and

 

     (2)  Request that the working group submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2016.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Community Alliance on Prisons and The Sex Abuse Treatment Center.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Public Safety.

 

     Your Committee finds that the increasing number of individuals imprisoned has led to rising operating costs, community reliance on incarceration, and growing numbers of inmates prematurely released from prison each year.  Interdependency among participants in the judicial process needs to be recognized in working with each other and in the decision-making processes regarding offenders.  A working group to examine smarter sentencing, which enhances the decision making ability of criminal justice stakeholders in the selection and application of fair and efficient sanctioning goals, will improve the quality of the State's criminal sentencing practices.

 

     Your Committee notes the concerns raised in the written testimony submitted by the Department of Public Safety that the Department would not be able to fulfill the requirements under this measure.  The Department testified that it does not participate in the adjudication and sentencing phases of the judicial proceedings aside from housing those detained by the courts.

 

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Identifying the Judiciary, rather than the Department of Public Safety, as the body responsible for forming the working group to examine smarter sentencing;

 

     (2)  Amending the title accordingly;

 

     (3)  Expanding the working group to include the Director of Public Safety; and

 

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 128, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 128, S.D. 2.

 


Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

 

 

 

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair