Hawaii Criminal Records

Hawaii draws its line at the verdict. The Attorney General's Criminal Justice Data Center sells conviction records to anyone, by name, for $5 a search and $12 a report, and keeps every arrest that did not end in conviction out of the public copy altogether. The courts are the other half: one statewide system, eCourt Kokua, carries every traffic, criminal and civil case in the islands, free to search, with the note that a record "cannot be removed unless the case records are sealed by a court order." The state runs every jail, so one custody system covers the whole state, and a judgment lasts ten years, extendable once. This page gives the Hawaii rule and the Hawaii search for each record, with government sources only.

The Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center, an agency of the Department of the Attorney General, "is responsible for the statewide criminal history record information system (CJIS-Hawaii), the statewide Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), the statewide Sex Offender and Other Covered Offender Registry, and the Adult Criminal Conviction Information Web Site (eCrim)." Its record check page states the rule: "Arrest records which have resulted in convictions (found guilty) are considered public record and are available at Public Access sites throughout the state and at the Adult Criminal Conviction Information (eCrim) Web Site." Its name-based check page prices it: "Name-based checks completed via the eCrim website cost $5 per name search and $12 for each resulting certified record. The criminal history record report will be emailed once payment is received online," and eCrim itself repeats that "the cost for an official eCrim report is $12." What is not in it is the point: an arrest that ended in dismissal, acquittal or no charge is non-conviction data, closed to the public under Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter 846, and released only to the person, to the agencies the chapter names and to the employers whose statutes reach it. So a Hawaii report that shows a dismissed arrest did not come from eCrim. It is a name search, and the criminal records page explains why a name match is a guess; the fingerprint version is for the person's own review and for licensing and employment under the statutes.

The Judiciary's search court records page sends the public to one system, eCourt Kokua, "for access to traffic cases; District Court, Circuit Court, and Family Court criminal; District Court, Circuit Court civil, and Family Court civil; Land Court and Tax Appeal Court; and appellate court case information." The system's own disclaimer adds the permanence rule: "The Judiciary Information Management System (JIMS) eCourt Kokua provides access to public information from traffic cases, District / Circuit / Family (Adult) Court criminal, District / Circuit / Family Court civil, Land Court and Tax Appeal Court and appellate cases of the State of Hawaii. The information cannot be removed unless the case records are sealed by a court order." The search is free; documents are sold, and the Judiciary's availability page explains that "individual publicly available documents may be purchased through eCourt Kokua by clicking on the document PDF icon on the case dockets tab. Individual documents from 1-30 pages cost a flat rate of $3." Felonies are tried in the circuit courts of the four judicial circuits, Oahu, Maui, Hawaii and Kauai, and misdemeanors and petty misdemeanors in the district courts, and all post to the same system; the clerk of the court certifies the file, and the county pages on this site link each courthouse. A background check company's "Hawaii court record" is a copy of eCourt Kokua on the date it was pulled, and the criminal records page explains what a copy misses.

The Judiciary's page on expunging arrest records explains the division of labor: "The Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) 831-3.2 authorizes the Attorney General of the State of Hawaii to expunge non-conviction arrest records upon written request to the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center," while the court record of the same case is sealed only by a separate motion to the court. The Data Center's expungement page and its application set the cost: "The fee for a first-time expungement is $35. Non-first-time expungements are $50. The fee includes a non-refundable $10 processing fee. Should your application be denied, the application fee minus the non-refundable $10 will be returned to you." Convictions are expunged only under the specific statutes that allow it, first-time drug offenders and the small cannabis cases among them, and for those "a copy of the Order Granting the Expungement of Conviction must be included with the Expungement Application." One gap is in the Office of Information Practices' opinion on police reports: the expungement statute reaches the arrest record, the fingerprint and photograph cards and the court file, but "as investigative reports, the Police Reports are not included in the records affected and are not protected from disclosure by the expungement provisions at section 831-3.2, Hawaii Revised Statutes," so a police report of an expunged arrest can still be requested. A copy sold before the order keeps the arrest, and the federal rule on complete and up to date public records, on the criminal records page, is what forces the copy to catch up.

Hawaii's Uniform Information Practices Act, Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter 92F, opens government records and lists its exceptions in 92F-13, and the four county police departments release under it; the Honolulu Police Department "releases reports in accordance with the Uniform Practices Act (UIPA) of the Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) Chapter 92F-13," and the Kauai Police Department's records section says that "most information are releasable to individuals when certain conditions are met." The arrest log and the incident report are released with the redactions the act allows, and the investigative file is held while the exception for a pending investigation applies. Hawaii has no county jails: the state's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation runs the community correctional centers on each island, Oahu's among them, as well as the prisons, and its SAVIN service, as the Hawaii Police Department describes it, "offers victims and concerned citizens free, anonymous and confidential access to timely information and notification on the custody and parole status of offenders under the jurisdiction of the State of Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation," which in Hawaii means everyone in custody, awaiting trial or sentenced. The arrest records page covers what happens to a booking after it leaves the state's system.

A Hawaii judgment lives ten years and can be extended once. Under Hawaii Revised Statutes 657-5, a domestic judgment is presumed paid and discharged ten years after it is rendered unless the court extends it on motion filed before then, for a further period of up to ten years, and "no extension shall be granted without notice and the filing of a non-hearing motion or a hearing motion to extend the life of the judgment or decree," with the section's annotations adding that the debtor must be told even when in default. A certified copy recorded at the Bureau of Conveyances, the state's single recording office, is a lien on the debtor's real property throughout the state. The court records page covers where the judgments and the Bureau's records are searched.

Hawaii is a single federal judicial district under 28 U.S.C. 91, which "includes the Midway Islands, Wake Island, Johnston Island, Sand Island, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Island, Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Canton Island, and Enderbury Island," and court is held at Honolulu. A federal criminal case from any of the state's counties, Honolulu, Hawaii, Maui and Kauai, is on that one docket and on PACER, whose prices and gaps are on the criminal records page.

Whether a person has a Hawaii conviction: eCrim answers it by name, $5 to search and $12 for the certified report, convictions only.

Whether a person was charged in any Hawaii court: eCourt Kokua answers it free, statewide, with the documents at $3 each.

Whether a person was arrested and not convicted: the state does not release it; the police report may still be requested under the UIPA.

Whether a person is in custody now: SAVIN answers it for every jail and prison in the state.

Whether an old case can still be found: an expunged arrest is off the Data Center's file and, on a separate motion, the court's, a judgment lapses at ten years unless extended, and a copy that predates the expungement is reached through the federal rule.