How Hawaii handles a case
What happens after an arrest anywhere in Hawaii: who decides release first, how fast a person sees a judge, which courts hear the case, and who runs the offices around them. Every county in the state works under these rules.
From arrest to court
- 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- Pretrial risk assessment
The state intake service center in each county must complete a validated pretrial risk assessment within three working days after a person enters a community correctional center. The centers use the Ohio Risk Assessment System's pretrial tool.
HRS 353-10(b)(3)Citizen Portal summary of Jan. 30, 2026 House Judiciary hearing (secondary)- 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- Prosecutors
Each county has a prosecuting attorney. Voters elect the prosecuting attorney in Honolulu, Hawaii County, and Kauai, while Maui County's mayor appoints its prosecuting attorney with council approval.
Hawaii Office of Elections, County of Hawaii Prosecuting AttorneyHawaii Office of Elections, County of Kauai Prosecuting AttorneyCity and County of Honolulu, Charter Amendment 2020 (prosecuting attorney term limits)County of Maui, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, About Us- Public defense
The Office of the State Public Defender provides public defense in every county, under a defender council the governor appoints.
HRS 802-9- Jails
The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation runs the community correctional centers that hold people after arrest and before trial, with an intake service center in each county.
HRS 353-10
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.