We support the sentiment of a "hate crime" bill approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee, but not its prescription.
Big Island Sen. Russell Kokubun is on track when he says "there’s a strong desire to recognize that hate crimes do occur in Hawai‘i." And by way of demonstration, senators should advance the portion of their bill that would create a data base run by the attorney general’s office to track hate crimes in Hawai‘i. The state has nothing to gain by remaining one of four states that doesn’t track such crimes.
But Hawai‘i already is overburdened with too many mandatory sentencing laws. Justice is best served by giving judges enough flexibility to make their sentences appropriate reflections of the seriousness of crimes - and expressions of hatred for race or sexual orientation always have been factors in such judgments.
We already have too many laws replacing the judgment of juries and judges, and their legacy is a litany of horror stories of justice gone wrong. This portion of the hate crimes bill should die.
