This year, the Hawaii Legislature is considering Senate Bill 1028, a bill seeking to repeal court-ordered fines and fees issued against youth and their families in the Hawaii Family Court system. In these final days of the legislative session, lawmakers are running out of time to move this critical bill across the finish line. As a Native Hawaiian nonprofit organization actively supporting this bill, we are calling on the Legislature to take action to achieve debt-free justice for youth.
The work of ‘Ekolu Mea Nui, and our Na ‘Opio Waiwai Youth Council, is rooted in care, culture and transformation. We work directly with youth and families impacted by the law. It is our kuleana to ensure that their voices and realities are not forgotten in policymaking. Our vision is a pono justice system — one that heals and empowers individuals, ohana and communities. To make this vision a reality, we advocate for innovative laws and policies that move away from punishment and instead focus on restoring the human spirit and strengthening resilient ohana. That is why we support SB 1028.
The elimination of youth fees and fines would reflect the Hawaii Judiciary’s efforts to achieve better outcomes for youth without the imposition of costly financial penalties. Many judges in Hawaii have used their discretion to reduce the number of youth in the system. These judges have used their discretion to create individually tailored plans, including treatment and services, that focus on helping youth. That is why, as the Judiciary has stated in written testimony on the bill, “Family Courts across the state already rarely impose fines, fees, or costs on youths and their parents.”
But we believe Hawaii can do better. For Native Hawaiians, for our ‘opio (youth), and for families across Hawaii who have been impacted by incarceration and court debt, discretion too often means disparity. It means life-altering decisions made behind closed doors without transparency, cultural understanding or accountability. We want a justice system that is just. One that doesn’t harm the same communities it claims to serve. To truly transform the justice system, we must address the financial burdens placed on our most vulnerable families by ending all youth-related fees and fines.
Earlier this month, we visited the state Capitol with members of Na ‘Opio Waiwai to engage with the lawmakers who make these critical decisions. We are grateful to Reps. Lisa Marten and David Tarnas, and Sens. Chris Lee and Karl Rhoads, for their leadership in moving this legislation forward. We believe our lawmakers share our commitment to youth in the justice system, the overwhelming majority of which come from families struggling to make ends meet.
For our youth leaders, fines teach the wrong lesson: that money gets you out of trouble. Whether wealthy or not, charging fines and fees to youth shifts the focus away from the programs and treatment that can actually lead to accountability and rehabilitation.
At the heart of it, our advocacy is about second chances. Our work is about returning power to the Native Hawaiian and other minority communities who hold the knowledge, practices, and values that can lead us toward healing. It’s about believing that our youth deserve the opportunity to grow, to heal, and to thrive, not be burdened by fees and fines that only deepen harm — and increase recidivism rates, as studies have shown.
We are the ones mentoring youth, feeding families, returning people to aina and building futures that are pono. We carry this work forward out of deep aloha and commitment to a better future for all our communities. We are here to rebuild, to reimagine and to return our people to themselves.
We are calling for a justice system that listens, learns and evolves. We call on the Hawaii Legislature to join us in supporting debt-free justice for Hawaii youth by passing Senate Bill 1028.
Jamee M. Miller, Ed.D., left, is co-executive director and Brytni K-Aloha is director of operations for ‘Ekolu Mea Nui, a nonprofit working to transform Hawaii’s justice system through reinvestment in Native Hawaiian cultural practices and values.
