It’s tough duty today for state Circuit Judge Jeannette Castagnetti, who must sentence a young adult on animal-cruelty and other charges. These offenses arise from a 2015 attack on Laysan albatrosses — brutal to the docile birds.

Castagnetti must weigh all the evidence and the role that Christian Gutierrez, 18 at the time, played in the group act, also involving two others who were judged as youths in Family Court. Whatever Castagnetti decides on fines of up to $2,000 and the possibility of a year in jail for the first-time offender, the message should be clear: This behavior won’t be tolerated.

Time to revisit rules on Marshallese adoptions

Worries are surfacing among officials that, due to what may be lost in translation, some pregnant Marshallese women are traveling to Hawaii for adoptions without realizing that could mean permanently losing contact with their children. (While a sort of hanai childhood is embraced in the Marshall lslands, there’s no word for permanent “adoption” in the western sense.) This issue first surfaced here about 15 years ago. Back then, the Marshallese government responded by tightening adoption regulations, and Hawaii courts started offering interpreters at adoption hearings. The standing rules are now due for a loophole check.