REPORT TITLE:
Sentencing Simulation Model


DESCRIPTION:
Appropriates $71,018 to the department of public safety for the
corrections population management commission to develop,
implement, and maintain a sentencing simulation model.  (HD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO A SENTENCING SIMULATION MODEL.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that for the past twenty
 
 2 years, expansion of the correctional system has failed to keep
 
 3 pace with the increase in the number of inmates.  The proposed
 
 4 new 2,300-bed prison barely provides the number of beds necessary
 
 5 to meet today's inmate population needs, let alone the number
 
 6 anticipated by the projected opening in 2002.  The combined jail
 
 7 and prison population in Hawaii grew from 2,284 on June 30, 1989,
 
 8 to 4,729 on June 30, 1999, a 107 percent increase.  Alternatives
 
 9 to incarceration, which can provide cost-effective means of
 
10 sentencing some convicted defendants, are equally overburdened.
 
11      The legislature further finds that an accurate profile of
 
12 existing convicted defendants and the development of tools to
 
13 predict future criminal offender populations are essential to the
 
14 efficient management of limited correctional and alternative
 
15 resources.  In addition, implementation of criminal justice
 
16 initiatives like "truth-in-sentencing" requires accurate
 
17 information and forecasting.  Thus, the legislature agrees that
 
18 the goals of effective sentencing and control of spiraling
 
19 correctional costs can best be accomplished through the
 

 
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 1 establishment of a sentencing simulation model.  The simulation
 
 2 model will provide the legislature and the law enforcement
 
 3 community with the necessary tools to forecast prison populations
 
 4 and ensure efficient allocation of the existing and proposed
 
 5 resources for all convicted defendants.  These resources include
 
 6 not only prison beds, but alternatives to incarceration (e.g.,
 
 7 probation, drug courts, and other diversionary programs) and
 
 8 community-based programs.
 
 9      Of equal importance, the simulation model will permit an
 
10 assessment of the impact of current and proposed sentencing
 
11 policies, including truth-in-sentencing and other initiatives, on
 
12 existing correctional system and community resources.  It will
 
13 permit officials to use different combinations of criminal
 
14 justice indicators, such as crime rates, convictions, prison
 
15 populations, juvenile crime, and other actual objective data to
 
16 project the impact of proposed policy changes on Hawaii's
 
17 resources.  Sentencing simulation models in other jurisdictions
 
18 have demonstrated high accuracy raters for their projections--
 
19 variances have been well below two percent.  The modeling
 
20 capability will allow legislators and other criminal justice and
 
21 corrections officials to propose more meaningful and effective
 
22 criminal justice and correctional initiatives.
 

 
 
 
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 1      Establishment of a sentencing simulation model is at least a
 
 2 two-step process.  The first step requires the consolidation of
 
 3 data presently maintained in separate databases by the attorney
 
 4 general, the judiciary, and the department of public safety.
 
 5 Tasks that must be completed in the first step include:
 
 6      (1)  Gathering current data about the State's prison,
 
 7           probation, parole, and community-based criminal
 
 8           defendant populations;
 
 9      (2)  Establishing a centralized computer-based criminal
 
10           defendant population database; and 
 
11      (3)  Establishing a computerized network for maintaining the
 
12           centralized database, including direct connectivity
 
13           among the components of the criminal justice and
 
14           correctional systems, to assure that the centralized
 
15           database is current and accurate.
 
16      The second step requires the development of computer
 
17 modeling techniques that use information in the centralized
 
18 criminal defendant population database, and project the impact of
 
19 different sentencing policies and proposals on future criminal
 
20 justice and correctional populations.
 
21      The legislature further finds that the governor's committee
 
22 on crime recommended that the Edward Byrne memorial state and
 
23 local law enforcement assistance formula grant program award the
 

 
Page 4                                                     2432
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 1 department of public safety $122,130 to develop, implement, and
 
 2 operate a sentencing simulation model.  The Edward Byrne memorial
 
 3 state and local law enforcement assistance formula grant program
 
 4 is a federal grant program that provides funding for state and
 
 5 local law enforcement agencies.  It has pledged $122,130 to the
 
 6 department of public safety for creating a sentencing simulation
 
 7 model, provided the State commit $71,018 towards the sentencing
 
 8 simulation model.
 
 9      SECTION 2.  In conjunction with the corrections population
 
10 management commission's responsibility to recommend cost-
 
11 effective mechanisms, legislation, and policies to control over
 
12 crowding of correctional facilities, and the requirement that
 
13 such recommendations include estimates of fiscal impact under
 
14 section 353F-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the department of public
 
15 safety shall establish a sentencing simulation model that
 
16 includes a centralized computer-based criminal defendant
 
17 population database, a computerized network for maintaining the
 
18 centralized database, including direct connectivity among the
 
19 components of the state's criminal justice and correctional
 
20 systems to assure that the centralized database's information is
 
21 current and accurate, and computer modeling techniques that use
 
22 information in the centralized database to project the impact of
 

 
 
 
Page 5                                                     2432
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 1 different sentencing policies and proposals on future criminal
 
 2 justice and corrections populations and resources.
 
 3      The establishment of the sentencing simulation model shall
 
 4 include the compilation of data on current populations of
 
 5 convicted defendants in the criminal justice system and in
 
 6 community-based programs, as well as the development of a
 
 7 modeling capability to predict future populations and the impact
 
 8 of criminal justice policy initiatives on those populations.  The
 
 9 judiciary and state executive departments with relevant
 
10 information for the centralized database shall cooperate with the
 
11 department of public safety in the establishment and maintenance
 
12 of the sentencing simulation model. Once established, the data
 
13 from the model shall be available to the legislature and all
 
14 components of the criminal justice and corrections systems of the
 
15 state.
 
16      SECTION 3.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
17 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $71,018, or so much
 
18 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001, to
 
19 develop, implement, and maintain a sentencing simulation model;
 
20 provided that state funds shall be made available under this Act
 
21 only to the extent that they are matched by federal funds from
 
22 the Edward Byrne memorial state and local law enforcement
 
23 assistance formula grant program.  The sum appropriated shall be
 

 
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 1 expended by the department of public safety for the purposes of
 
 2 this Act.
 
 3      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000.