Cops, lies, and videotape: Police reform and the media in Hawaii

Abstract

Police accountability is among the most prominent criminal justice issues in America today. Accounts of police misconduct captured by new communication and information technologies have played a central role in elevating this issue. On the continental US, the Black Lives Matter movement has driven these events, lodging the political debate in the larger context of racial inequality. In Hawaii, a parallel but distinctive series of events has occurred. A push for greater police accountability has emerged, but it has been more closely associated with gender relations than race relations and has involved women in political office rather than street protests. The Hawaii case also provides some generalizable lessons, particularly regarding the context-specific roles that gender and race relations play, and the potential for video evidence in promoting police reform.