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- then the data may also demonstrate a "healthy attitude" on the part of native Hawaiians toward their welfare programs. Their social concept of "shame" may not prevent the use of welfare and, therefore, we may be seeing their greater, more optimum use of welfare programs as compared to other cultures. 57/
Summary
In 1949, the proportion of native Hawaiian males in the lowest income brackets was above that for all other groups. Their median income for the same year was higher than the "all races" and Filipino groups but below that of the Chinese, Caucasian, and Japanese groups.
By 1969, the situation of the native Hawaiians had improved somewhat. They were no longer over-represented in the lowest income categories. According to U.S. Census data, their median income was higher than the "all races" group, the Caucasians, and the Filipinos, but below that for the Chinese and Japanese.
Other statistics paint a more dismal picture, however:
- According to the 1975 Census Update Survey and Hawaii State data, native Hawaiian income levels were still below the Caucasian figures, contrary to the U.S. Census information; 58/
- In 1975, over one-fourth (27 percent) of native Hawaiians were classified as below the poverty level; and
- In 1982, the percentage of native Hawaiians on welfare (AFDC and general assistance) was significantly higher than their relative share of the population.
G. CRIMINAL JUSTICE */
Hawaii ranks thirty-ninth among the fifty States and the District of Columbia in terms of population. However, Hawaii is ranked sixth among the States and the District of Columbia on the total crime index. Breaking the crime index down by type, Hawaii is ranked thirty-ninth for violent crime (the same as its population rank), and fifth for non-violent crime.
Ethnic Stock of Adult Arrestees
Table 23 shows the ethnic stock of persons arrested in Hawaii in 1981 compared to each ethnic group's percentage share of the population. The percentage of arrestees who were Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian was 23 percent, almost double their share of the population (12 percent, according to the 1980 U.S. Census). "Negroes" comprised 4.1 percent of those arrested, more than double their share of the population (1.8 percent). Other ethnic groups whose proportion of arrests was greater than their share of the population were:
Caucasian—35.3 percent (33 percent of population); and the "other" group— 11.9 percent (5 percent of population).
Comments received by the Commission on its Draft Report 59/ cast some doubt on the validity of these figures. Specifically, "the ethnic definitions used in the numerators [of Tables 23 and 25] seem to differ significantly from those used in the denominators." 60/ The result of using these figures is "a serious exaggeration of [native] Hawaiian crime rates." 61/ Using the
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*/ All the information in this section is taken from State of Hawaii, Hawaii Criminal Justice Information Data Center, Crime in Hawaii 1981; A Review of Uniform Crime Reports (April 1981).
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