|
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.C.R. NO. |
192 |
|
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2014 |
H.D. 1 |
|
|
STATE OF HAWAII |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
HOUSE CONCURRENT
RESOLUTION
ENCOURAGING THE POLICE DEPARTMENTS OF THE COUNTIES OF HAWAII, KAUAI, AND MAUI, AND THE CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU TO CONTINUE TAKING AFFIRMATIVE STEPS TOWARDS IMPLEMENTING BEST PRACTICES IDENTIFIED IN MODEL POLICIES AND PROCEDURES TO INCREASE THE ACCURACY OF EYEWITNESS IDENTIFICATION AND INTERROGATION OF SUSPECTS IN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS.
WHEREAS, the integrity of the State’s criminal justice process is enhanced and preserved by periodically updating best practices in gathering evidence; and
WHEREAS, the goal of a police investigation is to apprehend the person or persons responsible for the commission of a crime to protect the public safety and welfare; and
WHEREAS, more accurate eyewitness identification and confession evidence increases the ability of police and prosecutors to convict the guilty and protect the innocent; and
WHEREAS, on a national level, mistaken eyewitness identification has been demonstrated to have contributed to a wrongful conviction in approximately 75 percent, and false confessions have contributed to 25 percent, of the 312 exonerations that have been recorded nation-wide since 1989; and
WHEREAS, over the past 30 years a large body of peer-reviewed, scientific research and practices have emerged showing that simple systemic changes in administering eyewitness identification procedures can greatly improve the accuracy of eyewitness identification; and
WHEREAS, the police departments of the counties of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui, and the City and County of Honolulu have taken affirmative steps towards implementing those best practices identified in model policies and procedures to improve the accuracy of eyewitness identifications and confession evidence, such as those recommended by the Community Alliance on Prisons, Hawaii Innocence Project, American Bar Association, and International Association of Chiefs of Police; and
WHEREAS, the people of Hawaii would benefit from the adoption of periodically updated best practices identified in model policies and procedures, which result in an improvement in the accuracy of eyewitness identifications and confession evidence; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2014, the Senate concurring, that the police departments of the counties of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui, and the City and County of Honolulu be strongly encouraged to continue taking affirmative steps towards implementing those best practices, and any future best practices, identified in model policies and procedures to improve the accuracy of eyewitness identifications and confession evidence; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the police departments of the counties of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui, and the City and County of Honolulu be commended for taking affirmative steps towards implementing those best practices identified in model policies and procedures to improve the accuracy of eyewitness identifications and confession evidence;;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the chiefs of police for the counties of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui, and the City and County of Honolulu; and the prosecuting attorneys for the counties of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui, and the City and County of Honolulu.
Eyewitness Identification; Confession Evidence