REPORT TITLE:
Sentencing Simulation Model


DESCRIPTION:
Creates a centralized criminal defendant database and develops a
sentencing simulation model. (SD 1)

 
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THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           1121
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO A SENTENCING SIMULATION MODEL.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  For the past twenty years, expansion of the
 
 2 correctional system has failed to keep pace with the increase in
 
 3 the number of inmates.  The proposed new 2300-bed prison barely
 
 4 provides the number of additional beds necessary to meet today's
 
 5 inmate population needs, let alone the number anticipated by the
 
 6 projected opening in 2002.  The combined jail and prison
 
 7 population in Hawaii grew from 2,085 on June 30, 1988, to 4,880
 
 8 on June 30, 1998, a 134 per cent increase.  Alternatives to
 
 9 incarceration, which can provide cost-effective means of
 
10 sentencing some convicted defendants, are equally overburdened.
 
11      An accurate profile of existing convicted defendants and the
 
12 development of tools to predict future criminal offender
 
13 populations are essential to the efficient management of these
 
14 limited correctional and alternative resources.  In addition,
 
15 implementation of criminal justice initiatives like truth-in-
 
16 sentencing requires accurate information and forecasting.
 
17      The legislature finds that the goals of effective sentencing
 
18 and control of spiraling correctional costs can best be
 
19 accomplished through the establishment of a sentencing simulation
 
20 model.  The simulation model will provide the legislature and the
 

 
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 1 law enforcement community with the necessary tools to forecast
 
 2 prison populations and ensure efficient allocation of existing
 
 3 and proposed resources for all convicted defendants.  These
 
 4 resources include not only prison beds, but alternatives to
 
 5 incarceration (e.g., probation, drug courts, and other
 
 6 diversionary programs) and community-based programs.
 
 7      A simulation model will permit an assessment of the impact
 
 8 of current and proposed sentencing policies, including truth-in-
 
 9 sentencing and other initiatives, on existing correctional system
 
10 and community resources.  It will permit officials to use
 
11 different combinations of criminal justice indicators, such as
 
12 crime rates, arrests, convictions, prison populations, juvenile
 
13 crime, and other actual objective data, to project the impact of
 
14 proposed policy changes on Hawaii's resources.  The modeling
 
15 capability will allow legislators and other criminal justice and
 
16 corrections officials to propose more meaningful and effective
 
17 criminal justice and correctional initiatives.
 
18      Establishment of a sentencing simulation model is at least a
 
19 two-step process.
 
20      The first step requires the consolidation of data presently
 
21 maintained in separate databases by the attorney general, the
 
22 judiciary, and the department of public safety.  Tasks that must
 
23 be completed in the first step include:
 

 
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 1      (1)  Gathering current data about the State's prison,
 
 2           probation, parole, and community-based criminal
 
 3           defendant populations;
 
 4      (2)  Establishing a centralized computer-based criminal
 
 5           defendant population database; and
 
 6      (3)  Establishing a computerized network for maintaining the
 
 7           centralized database, including direct connectivity
 
 8           among the components of the criminal justice and
 
 9           correctional systems, to assure that the centralized
 
10           database is current and accurate.
 
11      The second step requires the development of computer
 
12 modeling techniques that use information in the centralized
 
13 criminal defendant population database, and project the impact of
 
14 different sentencing policies and proposals on future criminal
 
15 justice and corrections populations.
 
16      Sentencing simulation models in other jurisdictions have
 
17 demonstrated high accuracy raters for their projections--
 
18 variances have been well below 2 per cent.
 
19      SECTION 2.  In conjunction with the department of the
 
20 attorney general's authority and responsibility to initiate,
 
21 develop, and perform or coordinate programs, projects, and
 
22 activities on the subject of crime under section 28-10.6, Hawaii
 
23 Revised Statutes, the attorney general shall establish a
 

 
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 1 sentencing simulation model that includes a centralized computer-
 
 2 based criminal defendant population database, a computerized
 
 3 network for maintaining the centralized database, including
 
 4 direct connectivity among the components of the State's criminal
 
 5 justice and correctional systems to assure that the centralized
 
 6 database's information is current and accurate, and computer
 
 7 modeling techniques that use information in the centralized
 
 8 database to project the impact of different sentencing policies
 
 9 and proposals on future criminal justice and corrections
 
10 populations and resources.
 
11      The establishment of the sentencing simulation model shall
 
12 include the compilation of data on current populations of
 
13 convicted defendants in the criminal justice system and in
 
14 community-based programs, as well as the development of a
 
15 modeling capability to predict future populations and the impact
 
16 of criminal justice policy initiatives on those populations.
 
17      The judiciary and state departments with relevant
 
18 information for the centralized database shall cooperate with the
 
19 attorney general in the establishment and maintenance of the
 
20 sentencing simulation model.
 
21      Once established, the model shall be available to the
 
22 legislature and all components of the criminal justice and
 
23 corrections systems of the State.
 

 
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 1      SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
 2 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $122,000, or so much
 
 3 thereof as may be necessary for the fiscal year 1999-2000 and the
 
 4 sum of $85,000, or so much thereof as may be necessary for the
 
 5 fiscal year 2000-2001, to carry out the purposes of this Act,
 
 6 including the hiring of necessary staff, and the purchase of
 
 7 necessary services and equipment.  The sums appropriated shall be
 
 8 expended by the department of the attorney general.
 
 9      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1999. 
 

 
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