Sex in Hawaii

Last week in Washington Assistant Attorney General Seth Richardson's report on Hawaii was published. Early this year the Senate, stirred by the Massie rape, the Kahahawai killing (see above) and the Navy's charge that its women were not safe in Hawaii, caused Attorney General Mitchell to send Mr. Richardson for a personal investigation. His report flayed Honolulu's law enforcement, blamed politics for the current mess and deflated much of the race sensationalism attaching to the Massie and Fortescue cases. Excerpts :

"We found in Hawaii no organized crime, no important criminal class and no criminal rackets. . . . We found a condition of inefficiency in the administration of justice which, in effect, constituted an invitation to the commission of crime. . . . The unusual conditions of race, society and industry in the Territory make a continuance of such laxity fraught with much social and political danger. . . . We found no present serious race prejudice. The races seemed to be carrying on together with exceedingly little friction. . . . We found the police administration in Honolulu impotent, undisciplined, neglectful and unintelligent, with its chief concern political activity. ... In Honolulu we found an inexperienced, inefficient County Attorney, immersed in politics. . . . We found no serious criticism of the courts. ... No serious complaint of the jury system. . . .

"We found much prostitution, due to the large number of single men and service men stationed within the Territory. A certain amount of bastardy cases were traceable to the service men. . . . We were not impressed with the seriousness of alleged bad conditions on the public beaches. . . . We are strongly inclined to think that a moving picture censorship ought to be enforced in the territory. . . .

"We do not think the public reports with respect to alleged proclivity of members of the Hawaiian race in sexual crime is substantiated by the facts. The Hawaiians have a different sexual standard than we have but I found no reason for believing that the result of such a different standard predisposes the Hawaiian to violent sex crime. . . . The amount of sex-crime seemed less than reported from many localities on the mainland."

Investigator Richardson viewed the Massie-Fortescue trial with great alarm, warning that "any verdict rendered will be bitterly received by a large faction in the community." Said he:

"Community prejudices and opinions are certain to run at fever heat and it will not be surprising if a condition of racial antagonism, resentment and possibly demonstrations should result. But I see no way out of the situation except to go through with it. regardless of results."

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