STAND. COM. REP. NO. 965-00

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 2000

                                 RE: S.B. No. 2142
                                     S.D. 1
                                     H.D. 1
                                     




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No.
2142, S.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RIGHTS OF VICTIMS AND
     WITNESSES IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to ensure that victims, whose
criminal perpetrator is acquitted or found unfit to proceed,
maintain their notification rights by:

     (1)  Including in the definition of "major development", the
          defendant's:

          (A)  Unfitness to stand trial;

          (B)  Transfer to the State Hospital or other
               psychiatric facility; or

          (C)  Regaining fitness to proceed;

     (2)  Requiring notice to be given to state or county law
          enforcement agencies when a former criminal defendant,
          under the supervision of the mental health system,
          petitions or is otherwise considered for release; and


 
 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 965-00
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     (3)  Making more difficult and less automatic the release of
          a former criminal defendant who is involuntarily
          committed to a psychiatric facility.

     The Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and
County of Honolulu and an individual testified in support of this
measure.  The Department of Health, the Office of the Public
Defender, and the Mental Health Association of Hawaii opposed
this measure.

     Your Committee finds that the rights of individuals with
mental illness must be balanced with the need to treat the
victims of crime with dignity and respect.  While this measure
prepares victims for their perpetrator's release, it infringes
upon the rights of the mentally ill, specifically, the
confidentiality of treatment services.

     Your Committee is sensitive to this concern, and
respectfully requests the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian
Affairs to discuss this issue.

     After careful consideration, your Committee has amended this
measure by:

     (1)  Deleting the requirement that notice be given to state
          or county law enforcement agencies when a former
          criminal defendant, under the supervision of the mental
          health system, petitions or is otherwise considered for
          release;

     (2)  Deleting the requirement that makes the release of a
          former criminal defendant who is involuntarily
          committed to a psychiatric facility more difficult and
          less automatic;

     (3)  Giving victims the choice to receive notification or
          not; and

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

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No.
2142, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass
Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2142, S.D.
1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and
Hawaiian Affairs.


 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 965-00
                                 Page 3

 
                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Health,



                                   ______________________________
                                   ALEXANDER C. SANTIAGO, Chair