Honolulu Star-Bulletin
General Election GuideHonolulu Prosecutor We asked candidates in this race to address the following subject areas. Their responses are below.
1) Should taxpayers' money go toward building more prisons?
2) At what point should juveniles be treated as adult criminals by the courts?
3) Do you believe in the death penalty?
4) If elected, what would be your lobbying priority before the 1997 Legislature?
5) What would you do to counter the criticism that criminals aren't prosecuted aggressively enough?
David Arakawa
Age: 41
Occupation: Attorney1. Lack of prison space is a threat to public safety and therefore the public must accept the responsibility of paying for more prison space. However, I would support creative ways to obtain prison space at the least cost.
2. Juveniles 14 years and older who commit violent crimes like murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping, felony assaults and repeat property crimes should be treated as adults. Presently, juveniles younger than 16 years old cannot be tried as adults. I would lobby the Legislature to lower the waiver age to 14.
3. Yes, for serial killers, hired contract killers and criminals who have murdered more than once. These criminals are likely to kill again and are not deterred by life sentences in prison, with the possibility of parole. Cost should not be a factor when the concern is preventing further murders.
4. Funding more prison space; a truth-in-sentencing law requiring criminals to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence; lowering the juvenile waiver age to 14 years old; mandatory sentences for Class A drug felonies; funding shelters for abuse victims; and a constitutional amendment to provide crime victims with certain rights.
5. The police do arrest criminals, and the prosecutor's office does aggressively prosecute them, however, jail time is often not served due to the lack of prison space. As prosecutor, I would push for more prison space and continue to aggressively prosecute repeat offenders, drug dealers and domestic abusers.
Peter Carlisle
Age: 43
Occupation: Attorney1. Yes, but not at the expense of education. We do not need $100,000 per bed maximum- or medium-security facilities. Cheap beds in boot camps, tent cities, abandoned buildings and mothballed ships should be considered. Don't let me fail to mention Texas or Siberia if available.
2. Due to an absence of consequences our juvenile justice system is a training ground for adult career criminals. Juveniles who commit grave offenses such as murder should be able to be tried as adults. With less serious juvenile crimes it should be three strikes and you're an adult.
3. If there was a death penalty I would enforce it. But I am against an effort to reinstate the death penalty in Hawaii. It is estimated that states with the death penalty spend approximately $2.3 million on each capital case. If that money were spent on community policing, murder rates and crime rates would decline.
4. Support funding of the governor's plan for 700 new prison beds in inexpensive facilities. There should also be a long-term plan to increase prison space to bring Hawaii in line with national levels. Begin the reform of our juvenile justice system in terms of confidentiality and the revolving-door syndrome with the "three strikes and you are an adult" model.
5. Clearly domestic violence is an area of recent criticism regarding inadequate prosecution of abusers. Wholesale plea-bargaining of such cases to offenses that carry no mandatory jail time and allowing abusers to have their records wiped clean must stop.
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