Report Title:
Prisons; Native Hawaiians; Offender Reentry Legislative Oversight Committee
Description:
Requires the offender reentry legislative oversight committee to establish a work group to conduct a study and convene public hearings to determine the factors that contribute to the arrests, sentences, and over-representation in the State's prisons and jails of native Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians. (SD1)
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THE SENATE |
S.B. NO. |
2887 |
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TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008 |
S.D. 1 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO NATIVE HAWAIIANS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. (a) The offender reentry legislative oversight committee established pursuant to section 353H-21, Hawaii Revised Statutes, shall establish a work group to conduct a study and convene public hearings to determine the factors that contribute to the arrests, sentences, and over-representation of native Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians in the State's prisons and jails. While approximately twenty per cent of the State's population is of native Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian ancestry, it is estimated that over forty per cent of the total population of incarcerated felons in the State are native Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian.
It shall be the priority of the work group to examine the reporting system used by the department of public safety to determine the number of arrested, sentenced, and incarcerated native Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians in the correctional system to ensure that the methodology employed is not producing inaccurate or misleading statistics.
(b) Representatives from government agencies such as the department of public safety, department of health, department of human services, Hawaii paroling authority, office of Hawaiian affairs, the judiciary, legislative reference bureau, and the University of Hawaii are invited to participate. Nonprofit organizations, community groups, and other parties concerned about the tremendous rate of arrests, sentences, and incarcerations of native Hawaiians may also participate.
(c) The work group shall gather and analyze the statistics and data on past and present native Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians who were arrested, sentenced, and incarcerated, and make recommendations to reduce the percentage of native Hawaiians and part-Hawaiians that are arrested, sentenced, and incarcerated. The work group shall submit a report of its findings and recommendations to the legislature no later than October 1, 2009.
SECTION 2. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.