Posted on: Sunday, October 6, 2002

EDITORIAL
We need details on 'information charging'

In Hawai'i, criminal suspects are usually brought to trial via a grand jury indictment or preliminary hearing, which determines probable cause for a trial. And a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

These procedural protections and principles play an integral role in the American criminal justice system that we hold so dear.

But they're also costly, cumbersome and often painful and unpleasant for crime victims.

To rectify that, City Prosecutor Peter Carlisle, the Honolulu Police Department and others want us to vote for a constitutional amendment that would bring suspects more speedily and efficiently to trial by way of "information charging."

Similar to a complaint, information charging would include documents supporting the charge, which a judge would use to determine probable cause.

Proponents say the system would bring relief to witnesses, victims and police officers who, under the current system, must repeatedly show up in court to testify for preliminary hearings or the grand jury.

Of course, we'd rather have police officers on the beat than sitting around in court waiting to be called to the witness stand. And the system could stand to be a lot more friendly to victims and witnesses.

But as yet, we really don't know the specifics of how the system would work. According to a report by Advertiser Courts Writer David Waite, a companion bill that would have spelled out the specifics was killed in the Legislature.

Is it too much to ask lawmakers to figure this one out before we vote to amend the state Constitution and change our cherished system of due process?

Right now, our faith in the proposed information charging process depends on the integrity of police officers and prosecuting attorneys. Through information charging, these law enforcement agents — who are by no means infallible — would be able to trigger felony prosecution on the basis of uncontested documents. That's a heck of a lot of discretion.

Sure, due process can be slow, expensive and even traumatizing to victims and witnesses. But right now, as one critic points out, the alternative is still very much a pig in a poke.

The arguments for information charging make a lot of sense. But until we know how this would work in practice in Hawai'i, they are largely theoretical.