HI HCR155

Requests the Judicial Council to appoint a committee to review and recommend revisions to the Hawaii Penal Code, which has not been comprehensively updated since 1986.

Committee shall examine whether criminal offense grades and dollar-value thresholds warrant appropriate and proportionate sentences, with particular attention to disparate impacts on low-income residents and Native Hawaiians.

Committee membership to include 15 categories of representatives: judiciary, legislature, Attorney General, prosecutors, public defender, police, economists, psychologists, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, private citizens, criminal attorneys, corrections officials, and victim/prisoner advocacy groups.

Committee shall review the Model Penal Code, other state criminal codes, and the "Justice Reinvestment in Hawaii" report to assess whether sentences are cost-effective in deterring crime, reducing recidivism, and providing equal justice regardless of socioeconomic class or ethnicity.

Committee findings and legislative recommendations must be submitted to the Governor and Legislature no later than 20 days before the convening of the 2016 Regular Session.