Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 442 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to give victims and witnesses notice, and the option of waiving notice of events surrounding acquittal, unfitness of the defendant to stand trial, release following acquittal or unfitness to stand trial, institutionalization, and resumption of penal proceedings.

The Sex Abuse Treatment Center, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving submitted testimony in support of this measure. The Department of the Prosecuting Attorney supported the measure with amendments. The Office of the Public Defender submitted testimony clarifying the acquittal process and recommending that the language of the measure be changed to correctly state the law.

Your Committee finds that the notification requirements currently in place for criminal justice system events and incarceration release or escape not only provides victims, witnesses, and surviving immediate family members of crime victims emotional relief, but also provides in some cases a degree of safety. Your Committee further finds that presently, the notification requirement is not available when an offender is unfit to stand trial or acquitted because of physical or mental disorders although the same issues surrounding victims' and witnesses' well being still apply. Therefore, your Committee amended the bill by:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 442, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 442, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.