Hawaii FY 2012 Justice Assistance Grant Program

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program (JAG) allows states and units of local government, including tribes, to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime based on their own state and local needs and conditions. Grant funds can be used for state and local initiatives, technical assistance, training, personnel, equipment, supplies, contractual support, and information systems for criminal justice, including for any one or more of the following purpose areas: 1) law enforcement programs; 2) prosecution and court programs; 3) prevention and education programs; 4) corrections and community corrections programs; 5) drug treatment and enforcement programs; 6) planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs; and 7) crime victim and witness programs (other than compensation).

The Hawaii Department of the Attorney General (Department) will pass through $52,072 in Byrne JAG supplemental funding to the local Hawaii Police Department (HPD) for the purpose of supporting the Wrongful Conviction Demonstration Project (Project). The Project seeks to prevent wrongful convictions of serious crimes by conforming HPD's current policies with best practices on electronically recording interrogations and expanding HPD's capacity to record custodial interrogations of individuals. HPD plans to meet the Project's requirements in the coming months, which includes developing a written policy for recording interrogations of a category or categories of serious crimes and conforming policies to best practices including: a requirement that the entire interrogation is electronically recorded; a requirement that the recording equipment be positioned in such a way as to record the suspect and the interrogating officer(s) or the interrogating officer(s); and a system for cataloguing and retaining copies of recordings for use in related judicial proceedings. After HPD notifies the Department that it has completed the written policies and the Department verifies that the policies conform to the requirements of the Project, the Department will subcontract funds to HPD.

NCA/NCF