05-12-2006, 04:24 AM
Ironman makes some excellent points about the culture of acceptance and enabling. Ever since I began visiting Hawaii, I have paid close attention to the crime news in the newspapers and on TV. I was impressed early on by the comparatively lenient sentences handed down by the courts for what were described as serious or repeat offenses. I also noted the relative ease with which low bonds or personal recognisance (misp.) were available. (In one fairly recent incident I seem to recall an obviously drunk driver who killed a pedestrian being sent home without bail while the cops investigated.)
At first I just thought that my perception was skewed by my lifelong residence in Texas and the Deep South, where things can get draconian in a heartbeat, and both the police and courts have a history of going over the top. Then I began to hear complaints from life-long residents about lax enforcement and lack of consequences for repeat offenders.
The legislature just passed a three strikes law that will enforce stiffer penalties for repeat violent offenders, but it seems the bigger problem is with the tolerance of endemic petty crime and property offenses. I have read sociological research which convincingly asserts that when petty and property offenses are vigorously and fairly policed and prosecuted, ALL crime goes down. I don't claim to know all the answers, but there does seem to be room for a lot of discussion about law enforcement in Hawaii.
Aloha,
Jerry
At first I just thought that my perception was skewed by my lifelong residence in Texas and the Deep South, where things can get draconian in a heartbeat, and both the police and courts have a history of going over the top. Then I began to hear complaints from life-long residents about lax enforcement and lack of consequences for repeat offenders.
The legislature just passed a three strikes law that will enforce stiffer penalties for repeat violent offenders, but it seems the bigger problem is with the tolerance of endemic petty crime and property offenses. I have read sociological research which convincingly asserts that when petty and property offenses are vigorously and fairly policed and prosecuted, ALL crime goes down. I don't claim to know all the answers, but there does seem to be room for a lot of discussion about law enforcement in Hawaii.
Aloha,
Jerry