Hawaii
 |
From 2011-2012, the CSG Justice Center worked with Hawaii’s state leaders in to develop data-driven, consensus-based policy options designed to reduce corrections spending and increase public safety. CSG Justice Center experts interviewed stakeholders across the criminal justice system and conducted a comprehensive analysis of Hawaii’s criminal justice data to identify challenges facing the state:
- Unnecessary delays in Hawaii’s pretrial decision making process contributed to a 117% increase in the pretrial population between FY 2006 and FY 2011
- Programs intended to reduce recidivism were not being focused on people most likely to reoffend
- Victim services were not sufficient to ensure that individuals responsible for making restitution payments to victims were being held accountable
Hawaii’s justice reinvestment framework was signed into law in 2012. It includes several policy options designed to address theses challenges:
- Increases efficiency by requiring timely risk assessments of pretrial defendants to lessen the costly delays in the pretrial process
- Reduces recidivism by focusing probation and parole resources on individuals most likely to reoffend and by allowing more judicial discretion at sentencing to select the most appropriate sanction for second-time felony drug offenders
- Holds offenders more accountable for their actions by increasing the amount they must pay towards victim restitution to 25% of inmate account deposits and ensuring that institutions have the mechanisms in place to collect, track, and disperse these funds effectively
These policies are projected to save the state up to an estimated $130 million over the following 8 years. Out of the savings and avoided costs anticipated in the first year, the state reinvested $3.4 million in order to expand the availability of community-based treatment programs, hire additional corrections staff to complete risk and needs assessments and support reentry efforts, and reestablish the Department of Public Safety’s research and planning office. Hawaii is receiving ongoing implementation guidance from the CSG Justice Center.