NCJ Number
87319
Date Published
1981
Length
167 pages
Annotation
This report reviews both past and present sentencing practices in Hawaii, with attention to alternatives to incarceration in this and other States.
Abstract
Although Hawaii's system is basically indeterminate, certain offenders (i.e., repeat offenders, those committing certain gun offenses) are required by statute to receive mandatory terms of incarceration. All others are sentenced at the judge's discretion to either a suspended sentence, deferred acceptance of guilty plea, probation, or incarceration for a set maximum term. Hawaii's law allows for restitution and community service, yet its sentencing system lacks cohesion, particularly in its lack of a unifying philosophy of sentencing. Others problems undermining cohesion are the dispersal of discretion among many agencies and the failure to make important policy decisions concerning sentencing. The report recommends that a statewide sentencing and guidelines commission be established and that improvements be made in probation and alternative sentencing. Footnotes, tables and graphs, and about 50 references are supplied. (Author summary modified)