Request for Adult Criminal Case Dispositions

Request to:: City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney
Law used:: State of Hawaii UIPA
Status of this request:: Request awaits classification
Summary of Request: REQUESTING THE FOLLOWING ELECTRONIC RECORDS FROM THE HONOLULU DEPARTMENT OF THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, COVERING JANUARY 1, 2008 TO PRESENT: All adult criminal case dispositions, including: • Case ID and citation number • Filing date • Offense(s) charged • Charging decision (e.g. filed, declined, Nolle Prosequi) • Disposition (e.g. conviction, dismissal, DAGP) • Disposition date • Disposition reason if available • Diversion program status (e.g. Act 26, HOPE, Drug Court) • Sentencing outcome (e.g. probation, jail, supervised release) If separate, a listing of all cases marked Nolle Prosequi or otherwise dismissed without prejudice, with: • Reason for dismissal • Any accompanying memos or notes accessible through the public record I AM REQUESTING THESE RECORDS IN A SEARCHABLE, MACHINE-READABLE FORMAT SUCH AS CSV OR EXCEL. As these are system-generated records routinely maintained by your department, I request that they be provided in a searchable, machine-readable format, such as Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) or Comma-Separated Values (.csv), per HRS § 92F-11(c). If the data is already part of an existing report, dataset, or regularly updated internal database used for analysis or inter-agency coordination (e.g., shared with eCourt Kokua or HPD), I ask that you provide the most current version readily retrievable.

Messages in this request

From	<< Name Not Public >>
Subject	Records Request for City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney: Request for Adult Criminal Case Dispositions [#1396]
Date	April 14, 2025, 2:09 p.m.
To	City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney
Status	Awaiting response
Attachments

Aloha, Pursuant to the public records law, I would like to request the following records in electronic format sent to my email address.

REQUESTING THE FOLLOWING ELECTRONIC RECORDS FROM THE HONOLULU DEPARTMENT OF THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, COVERING JANUARY 1, 2008 TO PRESENT:

All adult criminal case dispositions, including:
• Case ID and citation number
• Filing date
• Offense(s) charged
• Charging decision (e.g. filed, declined, Nolle Prosequi)
• Disposition (e.g. conviction, dismissal, DAGP)
• Disposition date
• Disposition reason if available
• Diversion program status (e.g. Act 26, HOPE, Drug Court)
• Sentencing outcome (e.g. probation, jail, supervised release)

If separate, a listing of all cases marked Nolle Prosequi or otherwise dismissed without prejudice, with:
• Reason for dismissal
• Any accompanying memos or notes accessible through the public record

I AM REQUESTING THESE RECORDS IN A SEARCHABLE, MACHINE-READABLE FORMAT SUCH AS CSV OR EXCEL.

As these are system-generated records routinely maintained by your department, I request that they be provided in a searchable, machine-readable format, such as Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) or Comma-Separated Values (.csv), per HRS § 92F-11(c).

If the data is already part of an existing report, dataset, or regularly updated internal database used for analysis or inter-agency coordination (e.g., shared with eCourt Kokua or HPD), I ask that you provide the most current version readily retrievable.

<< Name Not Public >>

2 months, 2 weeks agoApril 14, 2025, 2:10 p.m.: << Name Not Public >> sent a message to City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney.

From	DPA INFO – City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney
Subject	RE: Records Request for City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney: Request for Adult Criminal Case Dispositions [#1396]
Date	April 17, 2025, 7:47 a.m.
Attachments

Dear Mr. << Name removed >> , Attached is our acknowledgment of your request for access to public records. We require more time as explained in our acknowledgement. Please let us know if you have any questions. Christine M. Denton, Esq. Special Counsel to the Prosecuting Attorney Department of the Prosecuting Attorney City & County of Honolulu 1060 Richards Street, Honolulu, HI 96813 Phone: 808-768-6472 <<email address>> **Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. Any review, use, disclosure, or distribution by unintended recipients is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.**…

-----Original Message----- From: << Name removed >> << Name removed >> <<name and email address> > Sent: Monday, April 14, 2025 2:10 PM To: DPA INFO < <name and email address> > Subject: Records Request for City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney: Request for Adult Criminal Case Dispositions [#1396] CAUTION: Email received from an EXTERNAL sender. Please confirm the content is safe prior to opening attachments or links. Aloha, Pursuant to the public records law, I would like to request the following records in electronic format sent to my email address. REQUESTING THE FOLLOWING ELECTRONIC RECORDS FROM THE HONOLULU DEPARTMENT OF THE PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, COVERING JANUARY 1, 2008 TO PRESENT: All adult criminal case dispositions, including: • Case ID and citation number • Filing date • Offense(s) charged • Charging decision (e.g. filed, declined, Nolle Prosequi) • Disposition (e.g. conviction, dismissal, DAGP) • Disposition date • Disposition reason if available • Diversion program status (e.g. Act 26, HOPE, Drug Court) • Sentencing outcome (e.g. probation, jail, supervised release) If separate, a listing of all cases marked Nolle Prosequi or otherwise dismissed without prejudice, with: • Reason for dismissal • Any accompanying memos or notes accessible through the public record I AM REQUESTING THESE RECORDS IN A SEARCHABLE, MACHINE-READABLE FORMAT SUCH AS CSV OR EXCEL. As these are system-generated records routinely maintained by your department, I request that they be provided in a searchable, machine-readable format, such as Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) or Comma-Separated Values (.csv), per HRS § 92F-11(c). If the data is already part of an existing report, dataset, or regularly updated internal database used for analysis or inter-agency coordination (e.g., shared with eCourt Kokua or HPD), I ask that you provide the most current version readily retrievable. IF SEEKING PUBLIC INTEREST WAIVER, PROVIDE PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT BELOW THIS LINE This data is intended for public interest research into systemic patterns in prosecutorial decision-making, criminal justice outcomes, and diversion program efficacy, with the aim of informing community safety strategies and justice system improvement. Mahalo for your time and assistance. I look forward to your response within the 10-business-day window required under HRS § 92F-23. I do not request any personally identifiable information. Mahalo, << Name removed >> << Name removed >>

2 months, 2 weeks agoApril 17, 2025, 7:47 a.m.: Received an email from City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney.

From	DPA INFO – City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney
Subject	RE: Records Request for City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney: Request for Adult Criminal Case Dispositions [#1396]
Date	May 27, 2025, 4:27 p.m.
Attachments

Dear Mr. << Name removed >> , Please see our Notice to Requester with the estimated cost for the search of the records you requested. Christine M. Denton, Esq. Special Counsel to the Prosecuting Attorney Department of the Prosecuting Attorney City & County of Honolulu 1060 Richards Street, Honolulu, HI 96813 Phone: 808-768-6472 <<email address>> **Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. Any review, use, disclosure, or distribution by unintended recipients is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.**…

1 month agoMay 27, 2025, 4:27 p.m.: Received an email from City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney.

From	<< Name Not Public >>
Subject	RE: Records Request for City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney: Request for Adult Criminal Case Dispositions [#1396]
Date	June 21, 2025, 1:43 p.m.
To	City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney

Aloha Ms. Denton, Thank you again for your kind and detailed response, and my apologies for the delay. Got a lot of irons in the fire. I really appreciate your time and the office’s willingness to help with this request. I think I may have made the original request sound more complicated than I intended. We’re not looking for anything fancy. We’d truly be grateful for whatever format is easiest for your office and the vendor to provide. If there’s a way to do a simple bulk export (e.g., just filtered by date range with basic fields like case number, charges, and disposition), that would be more than enough. Based on my experience, that's something the vendor could do quickly through a standard export tool or report, we’d be happy to adjust the request accordingly. Even better, if the vendor offers API access or a way to securely connect to the data in a read-only way, that might make the process even easier over time and reduce repeat requests. Our goal is to help build a universal website that allows agencies to better collaborate and track case progress in one place, to reduce silos and support more transparency and coordination. Thank you again for all you do and for being so open to working through this with us. Please let us know what would be easiest on your end (and for the vendor). We’re happy to work around it. ... Sincerely yours << Name removed >> << Name removed >>

1 week, 2 days agoJune 21, 2025, 1:43 p.m.: << Name Not Public >> sent a message to City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney.

From	DPA INFO – City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney
Subject	RE: Records Request for City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney: Request for Adult Criminal Case Dispositions [#1396]
Date	June 30, 2025, 9:10 a.m.

Dear Mr. << Name removed >> , Let me clarify about how we can extract data from our current system. In order for us to fulfill your request, even in the simplest form, we have to go through our vendor, as we do not have the capacity to extract that large amount of data as you requested. Further, the data will not have any personal identifiers as we are required by law to keep that type of personal information confidential. After we receive the data from our vendor, we need to review it before disclosing it to ensure that we are not disclosing any information that is personal and/or confidential. That will require more time which was noted in the costs that we sent to you. Also we can only give you data from 2013 and onward as this is the year that we implemented our digital platform that now houses are cases and data. A better agency that may have all of the data you are seeking could be the State of Hawaii Judiciary. Lastly, your stated use for this data is to "…create a universal website to allow agencies to better collaborate". We already have data sharing agreements with various law enforcement agencies, the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center, and other agencies so that we can obtain information we need to do our daily work. Our agency, like these agencies, would probably not agree to be a part of a universal website created by an outside organization because of the security risks and privacy concerns regarding the data as well as the various legal prohibitions on our ability to share data as discussed above. At the moment, our current agreements are meeting the needs of the law enforcement community while protecting confidential personal information. If you choose to proceed, the first payment is $5130.00. Once we receive that payment, we will make a request of our vendor to begin the extraction process for this data. Christine M. Denton, Esq. Special Counsel to the Prosecuting Attorney Department of the Prosecuting Attorney City & County of Honolulu 1060 Richards Street, Honolulu, HI 96813 Phone: 808-768-6472 <<email address>> **Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. Any review, use, disclosure, or distribution by unintended recipients is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.**…

-----Original Message----- From: << Name removed >> << Name removed >> <<name and email address> > Sent: Saturday, June 21, 2025 1:43 PM To: DPA INFO < <name and email address> > Subject: RE: Records Request for City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney: Request for Adult Criminal Case Dispositions [#1396] CAUTION: Email received from an EXTERNAL sender. Please confirm the content is safe prior to opening attachments or links. Aloha Ms. Denton, Thank you again for your kind and detailed response, and my apologies for the delay. Got a lot of irons in the fire. I really appreciate your time and the office’s willingness to help with this request. I think I may have made the original request sound more complicated than I intended. We’re not looking for anything fancy. We’d truly be grateful for whatever format is easiest for your office and the vendor to provide. If there’s a way to do a simple bulk export (e.g., just filtered by date range with basic fields like case number, charges, and disposition), that would be more than enough. Based on my experience, that's something the vendor could do quickly through a standard export tool or report, we’d be happy to adjust the request accordingly. Even better, if the vendor offers API access or a way to securely connect to the data in a read-only way, that might make the process even easier over time and reduce repeat requests. Our goal is to help build a universal website that allows agencies to better collaborate and track case progress in one place, to reduce silos and support more transparency and coordination. Thank you again for all you do and for being so open to working through this with us. Please let us know what would be easiest on your end (and for the vendor). We’re happy to work around it. ... Sincerely yours << Name removed >> << Name removed >>

22 hours, 10 minutes agoJune 30, 2025, 9:10 a.m.: Received an email from City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney.

From	<< Name Not Public >>
Subject	RE: Records Request for City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney: Request for Adult Criminal Case Dispositions [#1396]
Date	June 30, 2025, 10:57 a.m.
To	City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney

Mahalo for your detailed response. We fully understand and respect the legal obligations to protect personally identifiable and confidential information. A few clarifications and follow-ups on our end: First, we appreciate the explanation regarding your digital records beginning in 2013. We're happy to revise our request to only include data from 2013 onward. Second, we are not seeking any personal identifiers or confidential details, and the fee for your office to review this is totally understandable and acceptable. Third, based on our understanding, the system used by the Judiciary and the PA's office is the Judiciary Information Management System (JIMS), correct? And eCourt Kokua is by Sustain Technologies, a subsidiary of Journal Technologies, which runs as a thin client by API connection? We can reach out to Journal's office to double check, but I believe a feature of their system allows the users (i.e., the Judiciary and the PA's office, in this case) to do the bulk exports and API calls yourselves, without needing to request this from the vendor (Journal). Finally, we'd like to request clarification as to how the quote of $10,000 was calculated by the vendor. It seems arbitrary, especially given that bulk exports, even in the millions of cases, are normally an extremely simple process of a CMS that shouldn't take the vendor more than a few minutes--certainly not more than an hour--to initiate. Could the vendor please provide a breakdown of its fee? This transparency will help us assess funding options and determine how to proceed. Mahalo nui, again, for your thorough response.

20 hours, 23 minutes agoJune 30, 2025, 10:57 a.m.: << Name Not Public >> sent a message to City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney.

From	DPA INFO – City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney
Subject	RE: Records Request for City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney: Request for Adult Criminal Case Dispositions [#1396]
Date	June 30, 2025, 12:33 p.m.
Attachments

JIMS is the judiciary's system. It is not our system. Attorneys (not just the prosecutors but the public defenders, and private attorneys) log into the judiciary's system to file documents and retrieved filed documents from their specific cases. Our system is Karpel. I will ask them for a breakdown of the invoice. I attached what I received from them. Christine M. Denton, Esq. Special Counsel to the Prosecuting Attorney Department of the Prosecuting Attorney City & County of Honolulu 1060 Richards Street, Honolulu, HI 96813 Phone: 808-768-6472 <<email address>> **Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and/or privileged information. Any review, use, disclosure, or distribution by unintended recipients is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.**…

-----Original Message----- From: << Name removed >> << Name removed >> <<name and email address> > Sent: Monday, June 30, 2025 10:57 AM To: DPA INFO < <name and email address> > Subject: RE: Records Request for City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney: Request for Adult Criminal Case Dispositions [#1396] CAUTION: Email received from an EXTERNAL sender. Please confirm the content is safe prior to opening attachments or links. Mahalo for your detailed response. We fully understand and respect the legal obligations to protect personally identifiable and confidential information. A few clarifications and follow-ups on our end: First, we appreciate the explanation regarding your digital records beginning in 2013. We're happy to revise our request to only include data from 2013 onward. Second, we are not seeking any personal identifiers or confidential details, and the fee for your office to review this is totally understandable and acceptable. Third, based on our understanding, the system used by the Judiciary and the PA's office is the Judiciary Information Management System (JIMS), correct? And eCourt Kokua is by Sustain Technologies, a subsidiary of Journal Technologies, which runs as a thin client by API connection? We can reach out to Journal's office to double check, but I believe a feature of their system allows the users (i.e., the Judiciary and the PA's office, in this case) to do the bulk exports and API calls yourselves, without needing to request this from the vendor (Journal). Finally, we'd like to request clarification as to how the quote of $10,000 was calculated by the vendor. It seems arbitrary, especially given that bulk exports, even in the millions of cases, are normally an extremely simple process of a CMS that shouldn't take the vendor more than a few minutes--certainly not more than an hour--to initiate. Could the vendor please provide a breakdown of its fee? This transparency will help us assess funding options and determine how to proceed. Mahalo nui, again, for your thorough response.

18 hours, 47 minutes agoJune 30, 2025, 12:33 p.m.: Received an email from City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney.

From	<< Name Not Public >>
Subject	RE: Records Request for City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney: Request for Adult Criminal Case Dispositions [#1396]
Date	June 30, 2025, 1:29 p.m.
To	City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney

Mahalo nui for your quick response, and apologies for being misinformed. Your clarification really helps. Thank you, also, for reaching out to the vendor for a breakdown in fees.

17 hours, 51 minutes agoJune 30, 2025, 1:29 p.m.: << Name Not Public >> sent a message to City Department of the Prosecuting Attorney.