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Crime trends in Hawaii and the strain they placed on an already overcrowded corrections system were the subjects of this 1995 episode. Michael Nakamura, chief of the Honolulu Police Department, said drug use—particularly crystal methamphetamine—was driving increases in property crime and violent offences, and that people who should be incarcerated were being released early or not imprisoned at all. Ted Sakai, director of Prison Services for the Department of Public Safety, agreed that the state needed more prison space but argued that treatment and prevention were the only long-term solution; he defended the emergency early-release programme, noting that it targeted non-violent offenders without prior records. Mary Jane McMurdo, chair of the House Committee on Public Safety, called in to outline three legislative priorities: inmate work programmes, youth intervention through the National Guard's Youth Challenge programme, and tighter controls on correctional officer overtime. Steve Olm, the US Attorney for Hawaii, and Desmond Burn, head of Common Cause Hawaii, also contributed to the discussion.
Transcript
Read or download the full transcript (.txt). Speaker labels were assigned automatically and may contain errors.
Companion newspaper commentaries
Commentaries by the guests, published in The Honolulu Advertiser around the broadcast.
