STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1667

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.R. No. 41
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Ways and Means, to which was
referred S.R. No. 41 entitled:

     "SENATE RESOLUTION URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY TO
     EXPLORE AND FUND ALTERNATIVES TO INCARCERATION FOR
     NONVIOLENT FEMALE OFFENDERS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this resolution, as received by your
Committees, is to request the Department of Public Safety to
explore and fund alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent
female offenders.

     Your Committees find that the cost of imprisonment for
nonviolent women offenders is especially harsh.  Most of the
women sent to prison are mothers, and unlike their male
counterparts who can count on their wives to keep the family
together, women and children face a terrible crisis when a woman
is imprisoned.  Your Committees further find that the number of
women incarcerated in Hawaii for nonviolent crimes is
dramatically increasing.  Nearly half of all admissions for women
to the state correctional system are for offenses that are
relatively minor.  

     Testimony in support of this resolution was submitted by the
Department of Public Safety, the Hawaii State Commission on the
Status of Women, the Hawaii Women's Political Caucus, the Sex
Abuse Treatment Center, the American Civil Liberties Union of
Hawaii, and a private citizen.

 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1667
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     Upon further consideration your Committee has amended this
resolution by deleting all references to the "Department of
Public Safety" and replacing such with the "Corrections
Population Management Commission" which is the more appropriate
body to study this issue.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Judiciary and Ways and Means that is attached to
this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose
of S.R. No. 41, as amended herein, and recommend its adoption in
the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 41, S.D. 1.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Judiciary and
                                   Ways and Means,



____________________________       ______________________________
CAROL FUKUNAGA, Co-Chair           AVERY B. CHUMBLEY, Co-Chair


____________________________       ______________________________
ANDREW LEVIN, Co-Chair             MATTHEW M. MATSUNAGA, Co-Chair


 
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