Change culture of incarceration

Many Native Hawaiians feel they are mistreated by the state’s criminal justice system, and they have their reasons.

A 2010 report commissioned by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs found that while Native Hawaiians make up 24 percent of Hawaii’s general population, and account for 27 percent of all arrests, they make up 39 percent of the incarcerated population and 41 percent of parole revocations. Native Hawaiians are more likely to be serving a prison sentence than all other ethnic groups.

A nine-member Native Hawaiian Justice Task Force, commissioned by the Legislature, examined the 2010 report and last week came up with 38 recommendations to address the issue. The recommendations serve as a reminder of how crucial changes to our prison system can not only reduce incarceration rates overall but address a socioeconomic quandary that has scarred our host culture for too many years. The Legislature should build on the task force’s report to advance the cause of prison reform in the upcoming session.

"The general perception in the Native Hawaiian community is that the criminal justice system is broken," the task force asserted. "There has been ongoing, tremendous frustration in the Native Hawaiian community regarding the disproportionate representation of Native Hawaiian in the criminal justice system."

That "disproportionate representation" suggests what the task force called an "implicit, unconscious bias" against Native Hawaiians by law enforcement, court and corrections employees. Whether such bias can be mitigated through training, as the task force recommends, remains uncertain. But given the sorry economic state of Native Hawaiians, such a bias would not be surprising.

"Native Hawaiians have suffered from severe intergenerational, historical and political trauma from the loss of land, language and culture," the task force reported. "This collective trauma has negative economic, health, cultural and educational impacts on individuals, and often manifests itself in criminal activity."

In other words, Native Hawaiians who are prone to criminal activity tend to be poor, under considerable stress and without adequate means to choose upward mobility over lawbreaking. A sensible way to fight recidivism is to attack these problems directly.

The task force asserted that the Public Defender’s Office is inadequately funded, which hampers attorney representation of low-income criminal defendants. That should change.

The task force also called for a requirement that inmates be given identification cards allowing them easier access to jobs and housing upon their release.

The task force also urged the Legislature to complete the overhaul called for in the Justice Reinvestment Initiative by the New York-based Council of State Governments Justice Center. The initiative recommended that the Hawaii Paroling Authority disallow prison inmates from choosing to "max out" — serving their entire sentence behind bars so they can be released without supervision or rehabilitation. Using culturally based rehabilitation programs to ease inmates back into society has worked elsewhere and makes sense for those with strong ties to their native culture.

"If appropriate programs are in place, we believe we can lower the recidivism rate and reduce the cost to taxpayers of the criminal system," said Michael Broderick, chairman of the task force. "This is not just about Native Hawaiians, but all offenders within the correctional system."