Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 1607 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to increase the penalty for the crime of burglary in the first degree to a class A felony when there is a resident inside the dwelling during the commission of the crime.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Police Department and the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu. The Office of the Public Defender opposed this measure.

Your Committee finds that burglary is one of the most intrusive and emotionally damaging crimes for the victims, especially when the crime occurs in a person's home. If a person returns home to find that it has been burglarized, it is extremely difficult for that person to regain the feeling of security that one should rightfully have in the home.

If a person is at home during a burglary, or returns home during the crime, then the emotional damage pales in comparison to the immediate threat of physical harm. Your Committee agrees that the crime of burglary should carry a harsher penalty when committed in an occupied dwelling.

Your Committee amended this measure to provide for a mandatory minimum sentence of three years and four months imprisonment if the burglar enters a building in reckless disregard of the fact that it is a dwelling, and if the burglar knows, or reasonably should know, that a person is in the dwelling at the time of entry.

Your Committee believes that it is appropriate to provide a mandatory minimum sentence under such circumstances. If a burglar enters a home with the knowledge that it is occupied, a physical encounter will almost certainly ensue and the resident is placed in immediate danger.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1607, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1607, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.