§708-803 Habitual property crime. (1) A person commits the offense of habitual property crime if the person is a habitual property crime perpetrator and commits a misdemeanor offense within this chapter.
(2) For the purposes of this section, "habitual property crime perpetrator" means a person who, within five years of the instant offense, has convictions for:
(a) Three felonies within this chapter;
(b) Three misdemeanors within this chapter; or
(c) Any combination of three felonies and misdemeanors within this chapter.
The convictions must have occurred on separate dates and be for separate incidents on separate dates.
(3) Habitual property crime is a class C felony.
(4) For a conviction under this section, the sentence shall be either:
(a) An indeterminate term of imprisonment of five years; provided that the minimum term of imprisonment shall be not less than one year; or
(b) A term of probation of five years, with conditions to include but not be limited to one year of imprisonment; provided that probation shall only be available for a first conviction under this section. [L 2004, c 49, §1; am L 2014, c 118, §1]
COMMENTARY ON §708-803
Act 49, Session Laws 2004, added this section, establishing the offense of habitual property crime, a class C felony. The legislature found that in 2002, Hawaii ranked first in the nation for property crime rates and second in larceny theft rates, and that a large portion of the crimes are committed by habitual offenders. The legislature also found that Act 49 would punish repeat offenders of property crime. House Standing Committee Report No. 902-4, Senate Standing Committee Report No. 2616.
Act 118, Session Laws 2014, amended subsection (4) by clarifying that the sentence for a person convicted of habitual property crime will be: (1) an indeterminate term of imprisonment of five years, with a minimum term of one year; or (2) for a first conviction only, a term of probation of five years, with conditions to include but not be limited to one year of imprisonment. The legislature found that property crimes have been a continual problem in Hawaii. The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported in 2012 that Hawaii ranked thirty-one out of fifty-two jurisdictions when it came to the amount of property crimes at a rate per one hundred thousand inhabitants. The legislature strongly supported the services offered through the Judiciary's Hawaii's Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) Probation program, drug court, mental health court, and veterans treatment court, and suggested, without the intent of limiting the court's discretion, that when sentencing a defendant to a term of probation for conviction of a habitual property crime, the court consider sentencing the defendant to the programs, if appropriate. Senate Standing Committee Report No. 3258, Conference Committee Report No. 42-14.
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