Data has been recognized as being central to efforts to improve the criminal justice system and identify inequities. In 2018, the Hawaii’s HCR134 Criminal Pretrial Task Force conducted an in-depth study of Hawaii’s pretrial criminal justice system, and identified the need for broad based research in how the system operates and its impacts through the collection and analysis of data. Join us for a conversation around historical and current efforts to build a more just criminal justice system through the use of data.
Introduction by Associate Justice Sabrina McKenna of the Hawaii Supreme Court. Panel presentation by Willie Bagasol, Supervising Deputy Public Defender (moderator); Steven Alm, former Circuit Court Judge and now prosecutor-elect for the City and County of Honolulu; Dr. Erin Harbinson, the Executive Director of the newly created Criminal Justice Research Institute; and Dr. RaeDeen Keahiolalo, Principal at Magma LLC who wrote her PhD dissertation on “The Colonial Carceral and Prison Politics in Hawaii.”
Panelists
Steven S. Alm was a Circuit Court Judge in Honolulu, Hawaii from 2001 to 2016, and is new Prosecutor for the City and County of Honolulu. In 2004, he worked with Honolulu Probation’s Cheryl Inouye and other criminal justice partners to create and implement HOPE Probation. HOPE Probationers, compared to a control group in regular probation, are arrested for new crimes 55% less often, and fail on probation and go prison for 48% fewer days. Notably, Native Hawaiians are revoked and go to prison 35% less often in HOPE, than in regular probation. Judge Alm (ret.) was the United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii from 1994 to 2001. During his tenure, the office focused on political corruption, white collar crime, and large scale drug trafficking. He introduced the Weed & Seed strategy and led a coalition of law enforcement, businesses, residents, and social service providers that reduced crime in Kalihi-Palama and Chinatown by over 70% in three years.
Dr. RaeDeen Keahiolalo received her PhD in political science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Her dissertation, “The Colonial Carceral and Prison Politics in Hawaii,” analyzes the historical and contemporary ways that policy, representation, and discourse perpetuate and enable the criminalization and over-incarceration of Hawaiians. Her professional background spans a number of executive positions in educational administration, research and evaluation, program development and postsecondary education. Today, she runs her own consulting company, serving clients in the areas of program development, grant writing, research and evaluation, and editing for publication. In her free time, RaeDeen enjoys spending time with family and swimming in the ocean.
Dr. Erin Harbinson is the executive director of the Criminal Justice Research Institute (CJRI), which is located in the Office of the Chief Justice. Prior to joining CJRI, she was a research scholar for the Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at the University of Minnesota Law School where she led research projects studying probation and parole policies in partnership with community corrections agencies. Dr. Harbinson has worked as a policy analyst for the Council of State Governments Justice Center conducting technical assistance for states implementing justice reinvestment legislation. She received her PhD in criminal justice from the University of Cincinnati and worked for the University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute. While there, she conducted trainings on risk assessment and evaluated programs for adherence to evidence-based practices for correctional agencies across the country.
