The Institute for Justice

Asset Forfeiture Report: Hawaii

Grades*	Forfeiture Law Grade	State Law Evasion Grade	Final Grade
Hawaii

Forfeiture Law

Hawaii’s civil asset forfeiture laws are in need of serious reform. The state may forfeit your property by showing by a preponderance of the evidence that the property was used in a crime. Unfortunately, if you are an innocent owner and believe your property was wrongly seized, you bear the burden of proof. Law enforcement has a strong incentive to seize property, as they receive 100 percent of the funds raised through civil forfeiture.

Press Releases and News
State Press Release
From the Report: Canine Sniffs Yield Unreliable Evidence for Forfeiture

Forfeitures as Reported to LEMAS (Drug-related only)

	Total Assets Forfeited	Assets Forfeited per Law Enforcement Agency
1993	$4,091,284	$1,007,199
1997	$1,616,491	$236,675
2000	$2,067,879	$515,824
2003	$2,557,282	$618,159

Equitable Sharing Proceeds from the Assets Forfeiture Fund (AFF)

	Proceeds Returned to State
FY 2000	$1,207,271
FY 2001	$607,098
FY 2002	$2,052,050
FY 2003	$2,038,594
FY 2004	$1,802,294
FY 2005	$1,657,680
FY 2006	$3,345,770
FY 2007	$2,808,610
FY 2008	$1,626,211
Total	$17,145,578
Average per Year	$1,905,064

Freedom of Information Data

Reports of forfeitures by seizing agency

	Currency	Vehicles	Other	Total
2001	$450,945	$536,040	$207,033	$1,194,018
2002	$645,537	$487,147	$876,188	$2,008,872
2003	$1,044,944	$575,675	$286,000	$1,906,619
2004	$737,668	$457,792	$461,625	$1,657,085
2005	$414,395	$332,230	$316,627	$1,063,252
2006	$698,035	$460,855	$334,709	$1,493,599
2007	$636,598	$468,290	$300,396	$1,405,284
Total	$4,628,122	$3,318,029	$2,252,578	$10,728,729
Average per Year	$661,160	$474,004	$397,511	$1,532,676

*Learn how states were graded and how data was collected

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