Legislators defer plan for criminal justice study

A proposed study of the over-representation of Native Hawaiians in the criminal justice system was put on hold by Hawaii lawmakers last week, partly because of wariness over the current political climate.

House Bill 84 would have authorized the department of the Attorney General to gather statewide data about Native Hawaiians in the criminal justice system.

According to a 2010 study by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs entitled “The Disparate Treatment of Native Hawaiians in the Criminal Justice System,” about 24 percent of the state population identifies as Hawaiian, but 39 percent of incarcerated individuals are Hawaiian.

The disparity is even more dramatic for women of Hawaiian descent. The study found that while 19.8 percent of women in the state identify themselves as Hawaiian, 44 percent of the women behind bars in the islands were of Hawaiian descent.

Rep. Kaniela Ing (D, Kihei-Wailea-Makena), chairman of the House Ocean, Marine Resources and Hawaiian Affairs Committee, said at a public hearing Jan. 31 that the experience of Native Hawaiians mirrors that of African-Americans on the mainland, where disproportionately high percentages of them are either in jail, on probation or on parole.

Ing said the state spends about $50,000 to $60,000 per year per person to hold inmates in prison, compared with $12,000 per student in public schools. He contends behavioral issues should be dealt with and solved in the classroom rather than in the courtroom. Ing said change from within the criminal justice system must occur if recidivism rates don’t go down.

Ing said he supports criminal justice reform and helping the Native Hawaiian community, but said it was better to defer the bill until the current political atmosphere changes.

The bill has less to do with actions and more to do with creating a registry of personal data, he said. “President Trump in his campaign talked about collecting data about people and requiring certain individuals to be put onto a registry. We should be wary,” Ing said.

DeMott Conner, co-founder of the Native Hawaiian advocacy group Ho‘omana Pono LLC, also expressed a mixture of support and reservation regarding the measure. However, Conner was among those who testified at the hearing in defense of HB 84.

“When I saw this bill, I took to it because one of the issues we are working on is overcrowding in our jails,” Conner said. “I need data to demonstrate the need for reasonable alternatives to overcrowded jails.”

Conner, a former inmate who served more than 20 years in prison, said he believes Hawaii ought to adopt a justice system mirroring Norway’s, which focuses on rehabilitation and has the lowest recidivism rate in Europe, according to an article published by The Guardian in 2013.

“If Hawaii were to adopt a Norwegian-type of corrections system, I think within two generations we could solve this problem. As of now, we’re not really solving anything,” he explained. “Whether or not the bill passes, we still gotta keep going. You hit a brick wall, you don’t stop,” Conner said.