Open-air debate held on rapists and victims
By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
A Republican-organized news conference about rape legislation turned into a partisan debate in the state Capitol courtyard yesterday when Democrats showed up to defend their side.
House Republicans were protesting the House Judiciary Committee's decision Tuesday to preserve the requirement that convicted sex offenders get a hearing to object to being listed on a public registry. Republicans also denounced a decision by the committee that they said erodes rape victims' rights. State Attorney General Mark Bennett, city prosecutor Peter Carlisle and others joined in the news conference.
City prosecutor Peter Carlisle
The Senate version of one of the bills, Senate Bill 2843, proposes a constitutional amendment that allows the Legislature to decide which categories of offenders would be put on the public registry and to determine whether they should get a chance to object to publicizing their information. The House Judiciary's version would allow all sex offenders to receive a hearing.
The bill will likely be discussed further in House-Senate conference committee negotiations.
"Yesterday the Judiciary committee protected the rights of convicted pedophiles and sex abusers over the safety of our children," said Rep. Cynthia Thielen, R-50th (Kailua, Mokapu). "I think that parents should be outraged and I hope they let their legislators know what they feel about this."
The state had posted convicted sex offenders' names, photos and other information on a Web site but shut the site down in 2001 when the Hawai'i Supreme Court ruled it violated state constitutional guarantees of due process by not providing convicts with a hearing before publicizing their names.
The federal Supreme Court ruled last year that photos of convicted sex offenders may be posted on the Internet, a victory for states that use the Web to warn citizens about potential predators in their neighborhoods.
The court also turned back a challenge from sex offenders who argued they deserved a chance to prove they aren't dangerous to avoid having their pictures and addresses put on the Internet.
When the House Democratic leaders showed up in the middle of yesterday's news conference, House Minority Leader Galen Fox, R-23rd (Waikiki, Ala Moana, Kaka'ako), invited them to share the microphone.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Eric Hamakawa, D-3rd (Hilo, Kea'au, Mountain View), said he supports publishing dangerous sex offenders' information and said the process will allow an offender to go before a court so the judge "can look this person in the eye and make a determination — is this person dangerous, should this person be on the list.
"If the person is dangerous, we all agree, put him on the list. No one quarrels with that."
Hamakawa also questioned why the attorney general's and prosecutors' offices have not had hearings to put offenders on the public registry since lawmakers established a hearings process two years ago.
Bennett responded: "With all due respect to Chair Hamakawa, that is not the question. The question is why does Chair Hamakawa believe that every single person who has been convicted of a sexual offense beyond a reasonable doubt is entitled to a separate hearing before the public can have access to information about those individuals."
Bennett said his office and the prosecutors' offices have been working with the Judiciary to set up the process and that some cases have been filed. Carlisle also said gathering information about the 1,900 sex offenders requires a lot of work and resources.
The debate also covered Senate Bill 2846, which originally proposed a constitutional amendment to allow the Legislature to bar the admission at trial of a sex assault victim's prior sexual history. The bill would have also made confidential communications between a victim and a doctor, psychologist, counselor or mental health professional inadmissible as evidence in court. The House's version tossed those provisions out, according to the Republicans, Bennett and others.
House Judiciary Vice-Chairman Blake Oshiro, D-33rd (Halawa, 'Aiea, Pearlridge), said the House's version of the bill still includes the counselor privilege provision and that the existing "rape shield" law already provides adequate protection for sex assault victims when it comes to their prior sexual history.
Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.
