STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3456

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.C.R. No. 26
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred
S.C.R. No. 26, S.D. 1, entitled:

     "SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE JUDICIARY TO
     STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING DRUG COURTS ON THE
     ISLANDS OF HAWAII AND KAUAI,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this concurrent resolution is to request the
Judiciary to determine the feasibility of establishing Drug
Courts on the Big Island and on Kauai.

     Your Committee finds that the number of drug courts
nationwide has increased significantly, with drug courts now
underway in forty-seven states plus the District of Columbia,
Guam, Puerto Rico, and two federal districts, including Drug
Court planning in a number of Native American Tribal Courts.
Your Committee also finds that Hawaii's Drug Court program in the
city and county of Honolulu has been extremely successful since
its inception in January, 1996.  Hawaii's Drug Court is a
treatment-based program, run by the Judiciary, that diverts
nonviolent pre-trial and post-conviction defendants from the
usual criminal justice process and incarceration and places them
in a comprehensive, intensive treatment program.  The program
includes on-going judicial supervision and incentives for good
behavior and immediate sanctions for relapses with drug use.
Your Committee further finds that drug use by participants in

 
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Drug Court programs is substantially reduced and significantly
lower than that reported for non-Drug Court defendants and that
recidivism rates of Drug Court participants are also
substantially lower.

     Given the success of Hawaii's Drug Court in the city and
county of Honolulu, your Committee believes that establishing
Drug Courts on the Big Island and on Kauai would help to address
the growing number of substance abuse cases in these counties and
the resulting increase in the number of detained and incarcerated
individuals with drug abuse problems, by offering an alternative
to incarceration for nonviolent drug-abusing offenders.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your
Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 26,
S.D. 1, and recommends its adoption.

                                 Respectfully submitted on behalf
                                 of the members of the Committee
                                 on Ways and Means,



                                 ________________________________
                                 CAROL FUKUNAGA, Co-Chair



                                 ________________________________
                                 ANDREW LEVIN, Co-Chair

 
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