In early 2020, we brought community members from all over the neighbor islands together to meet our lawmakers and tell our stories. With your tireless backing, we have advocated for bills that will decriminalize poverty, reimagine policing, and move our state towards smart justice. We made a mounting number of calls and sent emails to our representatives and policymakers. We passed laws and we pushed the legislature toward reform like we never had before.
While gathering and shaking down the doors of the capital is not really an option right now, we're still not done fighting for smart justice in Hawai’i!
We’ve prioritized hearing from you: how have you been impacted by the criminal legal system? How would you change the way we incarcerate and police each other?
Click to learn more and watch the event video!
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Share Your Story
Across Hawaiʻi, people are being mistreated by Hawaii’s criminal justice system. Some have been unfairly targeted as a result of prosecutorial misconduct. Some are being jailed or forced to plead guilty because of an unjust cash bail system that strips people of their rights. Others are stuck behind bars long after it's safe for them to return home because extreme laws mandate lengthy sentences with little to no regard for the individual circumstances of one's crimes. These practices are fueling Hawaii’s mass incarceration crisis and it's hurting our families and communities.
We are interested in hearing from people across Hawaiʻi who’ve experienced the harsh ramifications of mass incarceration. Join us by sharing your own experience or your family’s experience. Help us reduce the prison population and stop racial disparities devastating Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities in the criminal justice system.
Our goal with these stories is to change hearts and minds about the impact of mass incarceration. We’re asking people to share their stories via 90 second voice messages similar to social media campaigns launched by reform. We’ll then post these voice messages on our social media and website. We may follow up with you for more information. Please scroll to the bottom to review our disclaimer.
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Pick a Prompt
- How have you been impacted by the system?
- What would you change about it?
- What does accountability look like to you?
- Describe your path to where you are today if you had been given an alternative to prison or jail
- What is the biggest gap in the justice system, and where did you first fall through?
- What would you change?
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Find a Quiet Place
- Take a deep breath.
- Think about what you want to say. Consider writing talking points and script it out. You’ll have 90 seconds to share your story. Here are examples:
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Call (707) 780-ACLU
- This is a Google phone number. You’ll be prompted with an auto recording reviewing the prompts.
- Share your story for 90 seconds. Feel free to hang up or delete and start it over again until you’re happy with the recording.
- Finally, hang up. We’ll then post these voice messages on our social media and website. We may follow up with you for more information. Please scroll to the bottom to review our disclaimer. Mahalo for your heart and voice in this movement to end mass incarceration.
ACLU of Hawaiʻi Disclaimer
This form is not a solicitation or an offer by the ACLU of Hawaiʻi to represent you. We cannot promise you that the information you provide will lead to any specific action on the part of the ACLU of Hawaiʻi.
If you do this action, you agree that the ACLU of Hawaiʻi or the National American Civil Liberties Union may use the information you give us, as long as we don’t include your name or email address, for one or more of the following purposes: (1) legislative testimony; (2) litigation; (3) contacting a city, state or federal agency; or (4) telling your story to the public, including the media. If the ACLU of Hawaiʻi or the American Civil Liberties Union wants to identify you, we will contact you prior to doing so.
We will keep your name and email confidential unless you give us permission to use it or unless we are ordered to turn it over by a court (although we will attempt to prevent any disclosure).
