HRS § 846-2.5 - Purpose of the criminal justice data center

(a) The Hawaii criminal justice data center, hereinafter referred to as the "data center", shall be responsible for the collection, storage, dissemination, and analysis of all pertinent criminal justice data from all criminal justice agencies, including, the collection, storage, and dissemination of criminal history record information by criminal justice agencies in such a manner as to balance the right of the public and press to be informed, the right of privacy of individual citizens, and the necessity for law enforcement agencies to utilize the tools needed to prevent crimes and detect criminals in support of the right of the public to be free from crime and the fear of crime. (b) The attorney general shall select and enforce systems of identification, including fingerprinting, of: all adults arrested for a criminal offense; all persons to whom penal summonses have been issued for a criminal offense and who have been convicted or granted a deferred acceptance of guilty or nolo contendere plea or a conditional discharge; and without the necessity of a court order, children who are twelve years of age or older who come within section 571-11(1) and who are taken into custody for committing an act that, if committed by an adult, would be a felony, a misdemeanor, or a petty misdemeanor. The attorney general shall provide for the collection, recording, and compilation of data and statistics relating to crime. Unless a child's physical fingerprint record is otherwise authorized to be entered into the system, and notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the attorney general shall purge any child's electronic fingerprint record entered into the identification system pursuant to this subsection either, upon court order or when: the child attains the age of twenty-five years; the child is determined not to be responsible for committing the act for which the fingerprints were taken; or the child is not informally adjusted under section 571-31.4 and a petition is not filed within one year from the date the child is taken into custody. The court shall notify the attorney general when a child is determined not to be responsible for committing the act for which the fingerprints were taken. A child's fingerprint record shall not be transmitted to any system outside the State. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, upon the conviction of a person to whom a penal summons complaint has been issued for a criminal offense, or upon the granting of a deferred acceptance of a guilty or nolo contendere plea or a conditional discharge to such person, the court shall order the person to report, within seven days, to the appropriate police department, sheriff's office, or other governmental agency for identification processing, including fingerprinting and photographing, as provided under this subsection. Failure to comply with a court order for identification processing under this subsection will constitute criminal contempt of court in violation of section 710-1077. The several counties shall provide the necessary equipment and the compensation of the persons required to install and carry out the work of the systems of identification and statistics in their respective jurisdictions; provided that those expenses in connection with matters exclusively within the control of the State shall be borne by the State; and provided further that the State shall provide for the management and equipment maintenance of the computerized fingerprint identification system. The systems shall be uniform throughout the State, shall be continuous in operation, and shall be maintained as far as possible in a manner as shall be in keeping with the most approved and modern methods of identification and of the collection and compilation of the statistics. The attorney general shall keep a uniform record of the work of the courts, prosecuting officers, the police, and other agencies or officers for the prevention or detection of crime and the enforcement of law in a form suitable for the: (1) Study of the cause and prevention of crime and delinquency and of the efforts made and efficacy thereof to detect or prevent crime and to apprehend and punish violators of law; and (2) Examination of the records of the operations of those officers and the results thereof. (c) The attorney general may prescribe, establish, and change forms to be followed in keeping records and in making reports to the data center. All courts and the judges and other officers thereof and all prosecuting officers, chiefs of police, and other agencies and officers for the prevention or detection of crime and for the enforcement of law shall use such forms, keep such records, and make such reports to the data center as may be so required. (d) In order to accomplish this purpose, the data center shall develop systems and provide the structure that support criminal justice information systems, provide statistical research and data analysis, and make public periodic reports which shall provide the public with a clear view of the criminal justice systems. [L 1980, c 269, §1; am L 1982, c 57, §2; am L 1983, c 78, §3(5); am L 1985, c 119, §1; am L 1988, c 58, §1; am L 1995, c 100, §3; am L 1997, c 292, §2; am L 2001, c 196, §2]