Maui County

Maui County follows Hawaii law on arrests, release, and courts. These rules are the same in every county in the state; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.

Who decides release first

For offenses punishable by no more than two years, the police chief or someone the chief names may set bail and release the person without a judge. For more serious charges, a judge decides, and for the most serious only a judge of a court of record can.

HRS 804-5HRS 804-9

Time to see a judge

Within 48 hours of an arrest, police must either release the person or charge them and take them before a judge.

HRS 803-9(5)

Money bail

Money bail is allowed. Since a 2019 law, bail must be a reasonable amount that accounts for the person's ability to afford it, under the least restrictive conditions needed. Courts may deny bail for serious crimes after specific findings.

HRS 804-9HRS 804-3HRS 804-7.5

Courts

Circuit courts try felonies. District courts hear crimes punishable by up to a year in jail, but a case moves to circuit court when the defendant demands a jury trial.

HRS 604-8

Judges and magistrates

The governor appoints circuit judges from Judicial Selection Commission nominees, with Senate consent, to ten-year terms, and the commission decides whether to retain them; there are no judicial elections. The chief justice appoints district judges the same way for six-year terms, and district judges must have been lawyers for five years.

Hawaii State Judiciary, Judicial Selection CommissionHRS 604-2

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Prosecutors.elected is null because three counties elect and Maui appoints. The current name of the pretrial tool rests on a secondary hearing summary.

Pretrial practice

Mapping Pretrial Injustice listed its risk tool in 2021 as the Ohio Risk Assessment System Pretrial Assessment Tool (ORAS-PAT).

MediaJustice and Movement Alliance Project, Mapping Pretrial Injustice county map (data as of fall 2021)

From Mapping Pretrial Injustice, a map compiled by MediaJustice and the Movement Alliance Project, advocacy groups that campaign against pretrial risk assessment tools. Its data is from fall 2021; CrimeDB uses it only where no court, government, or research list covers the county.

• Maui Police DepartmentCounty162,116 served
• Department of Law Enforcement: MauiOther State Agency

Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29. An agency that serves several counties appears on each. Population served is the FBI's figure.