STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1744

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.C.R. No. 171

       H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2021

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.C.R. No. 171, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY TO RECOGNIZE THE VALUE OF CULTURE-BASED REHABILITATION ACTIVITIES IN THE STATE'S CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to urge the Department of Public Safety to recognize the value of culture-based rehabilitation activities in the State's correctional system.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Koolauloa Hawaiian Civil Club, and fourteen individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that studies have shown that the criminal justice system disproportionately impacts Native Hawaiians and that proactive policies and oversight are needed to alter that pattern.  Your Committee further finds that Native Hawaiian cultural practices and programs, can serve as tools for inmates to reclaim their dignity and reassert their connection to a sense of identity, and that culture-based rehabilitation activities should be encouraged and their value recognized.  This measure encourages the Department of Public Safety to implement culture-based rehabilitation activities in the State's correctional system as a means to help alleviate the disproportionate burden of the criminal justice system on the Native Hawaiian community and provide for true healing and lasting rehabilitation.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 171, H.D. 1, and recommends its adoption.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs,

 

 

 

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair