STAND. COM. REP. NO. 193

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1112

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Public Safety and Human Services and Public Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 1112 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC SAFETY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to expand gender-responsive community-based programs for female offenders.

     Specifically, this measure appropriates $750,000, to the Department of Public Safety and $100,000, to the Office of Youth Services in fiscal year 2007-2008, for the expansion of gender-responsive community-based programs for women and girls in state correctional facilities.

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Public Safety, Office of Youth Services, Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i, Community Alliance on Prisons, the Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii, Hawaii Women Work!, O‘ahu County Committee of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, Planned Parenthood of Hawaii's Action Network, TJ Mahoney & Associates' Ka Hale Ho ‘āla Hou No Nā Wāhine, and three individuals.

     Your Committees find that to reduce the recidivism rate of female offenders, we must recognize that their path to criminality and their rehabilitation needs are different from those of their male counterparts.  This has been confirmed by numerous studies, including the 2003 report, "Gender Responsive Strategies: Research, Practice, and Guiding Principles for Women Offenders," prepared for the National Institute of Corrections.  The fact that rehabilitation programs designed for male offenders does not work is apparent in the dramatic increase in females in our state correctional facilities, the majority of whom are low-level offenders and are incarcerated for parole or probation revocation or violation. 

     Your Committees further find that programs that have been successful for women offenders are those that deal with issues of victimization, substance abuse, reestablishing relationships with children and family, and reintegration into the community.  These programs take into account the fact that the majority of our female offenders have been victims of abuse and the majority of our adult female offenders are mothers.

     Your Committees find that given the fact that community-based programs are less costly than incarceration and have a ripple effect on the female offenders' families and the community as a whole, the appropriations made for gender-responsive community-based programs by this measure are a wise investment of State resources.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety and Human Services and Public Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1112 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety and Human Services and Public Housing,

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

____________________________ WILL ESPERO, Chair