The increased presence of guns on the street poses a real threat.

"Recent data suggests there's no greater number of incidents or arrests, but the level of violence has gone up in severity," senior Family Court Judge Michael Town said. "So we're very concerned that kids have access to guns."

Criminologist Meda Chesney-Lind, a University of Hawaii-Manoa professor and investigator for the state's Youth Gang Project, notes 27 percent of intermediate school students polled in a recent survey had seen a gun in the possession of a person younger than 18.

"Weapons use among kids in fights is something we're tracking very closely," she added.

Police have identified 192 gangs with a total membership of about 2,000 in Hawaii. Many have access to guns and have been displaying them in drive-bys.

"The signs are there," police Sgt. Teddy Chun of the Kalihi Crime Reduction Unit said. "Kids emulate what happens on the mainland, television or the movies."

Also fueling the potential for violence is the prevailing attitude of repeat offenders who are not afraid of challenging the juvenile justice system created 97 years ago in the United States.

"Should they have any reason to be afraid?" Officer Charlotte Brown of the Kalihi community policing team wonders out loud. "They don't get penalized so there's no fear.

"They know exactly what officers can and cannot do and they're not afraid of court or detention home," she added. "They know how to play the system."

Except for aggravated assault and auto theft arrests, which increased 136 percent and 129 percent, respectively, from 1985 to 1995, arrests for serious juvenile crime have decreased, Chesney-Lind said.

"The figures do not inspire the suggestion that we've been overwhelmed by serious crimes committed by juveniles," she added. "It seems a lot of political hay is made out of juvenile crime during election years."

Arrest figures, however, do not provide a complete picture, Chun says.

"A lot of incidents go unreported," he added. "We get maybe one-third of them."

Early intervention and prevention programs in Hawaii appear to be making a difference in keeping the lid on.

"It's the direction we need to go in," said Joanne Swearingen, a state education specialist.

"Even though youth-gang activity has exploded in the Los Angeles area, I think it's one reason we've been able to slow it down in Hawaii."

The Police Department's Positive Alternative Gang Education program, introduced into public intermediate schools four years ago, is a model that needs to be expanded, Swearingen said.

"PAGE teaches students to stop and think before making a commitment to an activity they may not want to be in later," she said.

There are no statistics to measure the rate of success for programs like PAGE, the Department of Education's Primary School Adjustment Project for Kalihi-Palama elementary schools or Teen Court.

"There are no figures to tell us how many kids didn't join gangs or stayed out of trouble because of the programs," said Lt. John Paekukui, head of the Police Department's School Education Detail. "Ninety percent of the kids are good so prevention is where money should be spent.

"It costs about $29,000 to incarcerate one adult in prison and $80,000 (actually $72,885) to keep a kid at (the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility)," he added. "They should spend the money on the front end where kids can be saved."

What's needed are incentives for kids to be good, Brown said.

"A lot of media attention was given to the mayor's (Jeremy Harris') meeting with gang kids," she added. "What kind of message does that send? It would have been better if the meeting were with kids doing the right things."

Farrington High Principal Catherine Payne, who spent nine years as principal at Olomana School, agreed that prevention offers the best long-term solution for dealing with juvenile delinquency.

"It's tough to be a young person today with the peer pressure that exists," Payne said.

"The problem with at-risk juveniles is they may become adult criminals and do a lot of damage. We need prevention and early intervention early so they don't have 49 arrests before something terrible happens.

"I like (city Prosecutor) Keith Kaneshiro's idea of some kind of intermediary residential program where kids could receive support and treatment to change," she added.

Family Court's role is to intervene as early as possible, and assess what is going on with the child, family and community, Town said.

"People need to understand the court can't fix it," he said. "Judges are perceived sometimes by the press and public as just slapping a kid on the wrist. That's not happening.

"There's no one typical kid," Town said. "We see most kids at 13 to 15 with thefts or minor kinds of crimes and if we get involved very early and apply this balanced approach of accountability and treatment, many of them don't come back."

Family Court is not opposed to lowering the age when juveniles can be waived from Family Court jurisdiction to be tried as adults, Town said.

"It's hard for the judiciary to defend a position that a kid who commits a murder at 15 years and 11 months shouldn't be considered for waiver," he said.

The waiver rate, however, is fairly low in Hawaii.

"We waive to adult court anywhere from 10 to 20 young people a year," Town said. "In other communities, with the same population base, they will send to adult court 100 to 150 a year."

Juvenile crime is a reflection of society, said Officer Gerry Asato of the Kalihi Community Policing Team.

"Until we go back to basics and take control of our standards, it'll always be there," he said. "Society has to decide what society wants."

"The Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility is not big enough to house all of the dangerous juvenile offenders. I support an increase of an additional 60 beds at HYCF in order to detain juveniles who pose a substantial danger to the community.

"I also advocate increases in recreational, rehabilitative and prevention programs which provide alternatives to criminal activity.

Peter Carlisle: "Our revolving door juvenile system must change. I propose a three-strikes-and-you're-an adult model. An important caveat is that the most serious crimes such as murder or rape could immediately be treated as adult offenders.

"Strike 1: The first time a juvenile commits a felony, the juvenile court should involve the offender's immediate and extended family.

"Strike 2: Frontload the system with professional efforts. Drug rehabilitation, education, boot camps, as advocated by one of my oponents, or training may get an offender back on track and spare us the costs of a criminal career.

"Strike 3: The offender is treated as an adult."

Randal Yoshida: "I will create anti-crime task forces comprised of prosecutors and police to target gangs.

"Juveniles roam the streets at night and commit burglaries and destroy freeway signs with graffiti. The curfew law will be strictly enforced.

"I propose boot camp for offenders who need a structured environment to learn to make the right decisions.

"The long-term solution is education, intervention and rehabilitation. I will implement successful programs like 'ACT' (Abolish Chronic Truancy), created by the L.A. district attorney. Prosecutors work with truants and their parents. The focus is to get truants off the streets and back into the classrooms."

Want to know where candidates stand on issues? Here's your chance to get some answers. Call us with a specific question for candidates in the Honolulu prosecutor's race. We'll pick a couple questions to ask the candidates and print their responses in Thursday's Star-Bulletin.

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