STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1761

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: S.B. No. 823
                                     S.D. 1
                                     H.D. 2




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which
was referred S.B. No. 823, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SENTENCING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to require judges, when imposing
a sentence, to consider the fact that the crime was committed in
the presence of a minor as an aggravating factor of the crime.

     Testimony in support of the bill was received from the
Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, the
Honolulu Police Department, the Hawaii State Commission on the
Status of Women, the Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic
Violence, the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline,
the Child and Family Service, and the American Association of
University Women, Windward Oahu Branch.  Additional testimony was
received from the Office of the Public Defender and the
Judiciary.

     Your Committee believes that judges must have the discretion
to determine on a case by case basis what constitutes an
aggravation of an offense.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by:

     (1)  Requiring the court consider as a factor, when
          sentencing, that a minor is present when a domestic

 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1761
                                 Page 2

 
          violence offense occurs, but leaving the determination
          as to aggravation of the offense solely to the
          discretion of the judge; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for
          purposes of style and clarity.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to
this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and
purpose of S.B. No. 823, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and
recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto
as S.B. No. 823, S.D. 1, H.D. 2.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Judiciary &
                                   Hawaiian Affairs,



                                   ______________________________
                                   PAUL T. OSHIRO, Chair