Hawaii Penal Code Made Simple

by Kimani Upshur, M.Ed.

Most people have no idea how the legal system actually works — until they need it. Hawaii Penal Code Made Simple changes that. Hawaii is one of the few states that really does call its criminal law a penal code — the Hawaii Penal Code, Title 37 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, chapters 701 through 713 — and this book explains it in plain language, carefully verified against the actual statutes. In twelve short chapters, Kimani Upshur walks you through how offenses are graded on a ladder from violations and petty misdemeanors up through misdemeanors to class C, B, and A felonies, and why the grade changes everything about prison terms and fines. You will learn the states of mind the law cares about — intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, negligently — how a criminal case moves from arrest and bail through charging, arraignment, and trial in District or Circuit Court to sentencing, what the major offenses actually carry, and what your rights are. Three words carry the whole book: Know. Comply. Protect. Even Hawaii’s traffic offenses get a pointer in the right direction: the book notes that OVUII law lives in a different title, so you know where it sits. This is general information, not legal advice, and the book says so plainly and repeatedly. Written from a Christian worldview — Scripture first.