REPORT TITLE:
Sentencing Simulation Model


DESCRIPTION:
Appropriates $       to the department of public safety for the
corrections population management commission to develop,
implement, and maintain a sentencing simulation model.  (SD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2432
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
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
 

 
Page 2                                                     2432
                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 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.
 
23      Establishment of a sentencing simulation model is at least a
 

 
Page 3                                                     2432
                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 two-step process.  The first step requires the consolidation of
 
 2 data presently maintained in separate databases by the attorney
 
 3 general, the judiciary, and the department of public safety.
 
 4 Tasks that must be completed in the first step include:
 
 5      (1)  Gathering current data about the State's prison,
 
 6           probation, parole, and community-based criminal
 
 7           defendant populations;
 
 8      (2)  Establishing a centralized computer-based criminal
 
 9           defendant population database; and 
 
10      (3)  Establishing a computerized network for maintaining the
 
11           centralized database, including direct connectivity
 
12           among the components of the criminal justice and
 
13           correctional systems, to assure that the centralized
 
14           database is current and accurate.
 
15      The second step requires the development of computer
 
16 modeling techniques that use information in the centralized
 
17 criminal defendant population database, and project the impact of
 
18 different sentencing policies and proposals on future criminal
 
19 justice and correctional populations.
 
20      In conjunction with the corrections population management
 
21 commission's responsibility to recommend cost-effective
 
22 mechanisms, legislation, and policies to control over crowding of
 
23 correctional facilities, and the requirement that such
 

 
Page 4                                                     2432
                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 recommendations include estimates of fiscal impact under section
 
 2 353F-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the department of public safety
 
 3 shall establish a sentencing simulation model that includes a
 
 4 centralized computer-based criminal defendant population
 
 5 database, a computerized network for maintaining the centralized
 
 6 database, including direct connectivity among the components of
 
 7 the state's criminal justice and correctional systems to assure
 
 8 that the centralized database's information is current and
 
 9 accurate, and computer modeling techniques that use information
 
10 in the centralized database to project the impact of different
 
11 sentencing policies and proposals on future criminal justice and
 
12 corrections populations and resources.
 
13      The establishment of the sentencing simulation model shall
 
14 include the compilation of data on current populations of
 
15 convicted defendants in the criminal justice system and in
 
16 community-based programs, as well as the development of a
 
17 modeling capability to predict future populations and the impact
 
18 of criminal justice policy initiatives on those populations.  The
 
19 judiciary and state executive departments with relevant
 
20 information for the centralized database shall cooperate with the
 
21 department of public safety in the establishment and maintenance
 
22 of the sentencing simulation model. Once established, the data
 
23 from the model shall be available to the legislature and all
 

 
Page 5                                                     2432
                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 components of the criminal justice and corrections systems of the
 
 2 state.
 
 3      The legislature further finds that the governor's committee
 
 4 on crime recommended that the Edward Byrne memorial state and
 
 5 local law enforcement assistance formula grant program award the
 
 6 department of public safety $122,130 to develop, implement, and
 
 7 operate a sentencing simulation model.  The Edward Byrne memorial
 
 8 state and local law enforcement assistance formula grant program
 
 9 is a federal grant program that provides funding for state and
 
10 local law enforcement agencies.  It has pledged $122,130 to the
 
11 department of public safety for creating a sentencing simulation
 
12 model, provided the State commit $71,018 towards the sentencing
 
13 simulation model.
 
14      SECTION 2.  There is appropriated out of the general
 
15 revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $      , or so much
 
16 thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2000-2001, to
 
17 develop, implement, and maintain a sentencing simulation model;
 
18 provided that state funds shall be made available under this Act
 
19 only to the extent that they are matched by federal funds from
 
20 the Edward Byrne memorial state and local law enforcement
 
21 assistance formula grant program.  The sum appropriated shall be
 
22 expended by the department of public safety for the purposes of
 
23 this Act.
 
24      SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2000.