Today and for the next six days, we will present the disturbing results of several months of investigative work into the problem of domestic violence in Hawai'i.

This major undertaking began in July when we invited a group of community leaders to talk about the roots of the hidden epidemic. The discussions were intense and honest and helped us frame the series as we were implored to cover all aspects of domestic violence and help our community reduce its risks.

Reporters Rob Perez and Kevin Dayton, along with photographer Jeff Widener, were asked to go in different directions to capture the many dimensions of domestic violence. Perez and Widener were instructed to give us the overview of the problem, culling through the statistics, talking to police, prosecutors, victims, offenders and domestic violence advocates to bring us the broad scope of the system and whether it was helping those who needed it most.

They exposed a criminal justice system that often fails to find or adequately punish offenders and found the number of protective orders issued in Family Court has surged 80 percent over the past 10 years. The number of abuse calls to police has dropped about 64 percent during that time and arrests and prosecutions are down about 30 percent. But those in the field believe the numbers have dropped because victims have no faith in a process that can be both demeaning and ineffective. Some female victims admitted to us that it would have been better to just suffer the abuse than seek help through criminal justice means.

Dayton, who until recently was our Big Island bureau chief, spent months tracking the short life of 21-year-old Daysha Iwalani Aiona-Aka, murdered on Nov. 1, 2006, by her ex-boyfriend and father to her only child. Dayton spent many days with Daysha's family and watched hours of videotape of Jeffrey Boyd Santos Jr.'s interrogation by Big Island police. With the family's permission, Dayton obtained and read through volumes of Daysha's diaries, which detailed her personal thoughts about the abuse she was suffering up until the time of her murder.

The diaries — narrated online by columnist Lee Cataluna — are wrenching and Dayton has provided readers a compelling narrative of Daysha's tormented days in a special section that wraps the Island Life section today through Saturday. Reading Daysha's own words will bring tears but hopefully a resolve that we all have to do better to save others in the same situation before it's too late.

Widener's emotional photos — and those provided by Daysha's family — take us from happier times to the present, where family and friends still grieve over the loss of a young woman hoping for a better life. They also show Day'Rey, the son who bore the name of Daysha and Jeffrey, who is now 4 years old and lives with his great-grandparents. You'll read how the young boy — whose name has been legally changed — sometimes recalls pieces of what he witnessed of his mother's brutal murder.

What do we hope to accomplish by devoting this much space and time and cost to a project of this magnitude? As a community partner, The Advertiser wants to open the dialogue on what has been a long-simmering crisis here and elsewhere. We haven't just pointed out the problems. We've provided solutions, success stories and helpful lifelines, including emergency phone numbers and safety plans printed in 12 languages.

This is just the beginning of what we hope will be an ongoing discussion throughout the next year about domestic violence and what can be done about it. Read our series in print or online (www.honoluluadvertiser.com/domesticviolence) and then let us know where we need to go next.

Mark Platte is senior vice president and editor of The Advertiser. Reach him at 525-8080 .