Hawaii Criminal Record Correction — Fixing Errors and Ghost Arrests

What Ghost Arrests Are and Why They Happen

A ghost arrest is an entry on your Hawaii criminal history that shows an arrest from years or decades ago — often appearing as "active" or "pending" — even though the case was dismissed, the charges were dropped, or the prosecution never filed. The disposition never made it into the state's centralized Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS).

This happens because Hawaii's criminal records infrastructure has historically relied on manual data entry across multiple agencies. County police departments, court clerks, and the HCJDC all maintain separate databases. When a court clerk in the 1990s failed to transmit a dismissal order to the HCJDC, or when a county police department didn't update their internal system after charges were dropped, the arrest stays frozen in the state database as if the case is still open.

The HCJDC's own reports to the legislature have acknowledged that CJIS data frequently lacks critical details — including final court dispositions, specific drug types in possession charges, and accurate charge classifications. These gaps aren't rare edge cases; they're systemic.

How Ghost Arrests Surface

Most people discover a ghost arrest when an employer, landlord, or licensing board runs a background check and flags a case the individual assumed was long resolved. The eCourt Kōkua search shows the arrest, but the docket trail ends without a clear final entry — making it look like an active criminal case to anyone reviewing the record.

For people who were arrested during a youthful incident on a neighbor island but now live and work on Oahu, the ghost arrest compounds the confusion. The records are held by a different circuit's court clerk, the arresting agency is a different county police department, and sorting out who has what requires navigating multiple bureaucracies.

The Formal Record Challenge Process

Hawaii provides a specific administrative pathway to challenge inaccurate criminal history information:

Step 1: Request your own rap sheet. Submit a fingerprint card and a $25 fee to the HCJDC using Form HCJDC-073. This fingerprint-based search returns your complete, unredacted criminal history profile — including confidential non-conviction data that name-based searches don't reveal.

Step 2: Identify the errors. Compare every entry against your own records and the eCourt Kōkua docket. Flag anything that's inaccurate: wrong charge classifications, missing dispositions, incorrect dates, or arrests that should show a dismissal but don't.

Step 3: Gather certified documentation. Obtain certified copies of the actual court orders — dismissals, acquittals, or deferred plea completions — from the court clerk's office in the circuit where the case was prosecuted. These are the documents that prove the arrest should have been updated or is eligible for expungement.

Step 4: File a written challenge with the HCJDC. Submit your documented challenge with the certified court records attached. The HCJDC is required to conduct an internal audit and consult with the originating county police department or court clerk to verify the correct disposition.

Step 5: If unresolved, file an administrative appeal. If the HCJDC doesn't resolve the dispute to your satisfaction, you have the right to file a formal appeal under Hawaii Administrative Rules Title 5 Chapter 24 and the Hawaii Administrative Procedure Act (HRS Chapter 91).

Record Correction vs. Expungement — Know the Difference

A record correction fixes inaccurate data. An expungement removes an accurate record that you're eligible to clear. They serve different purposes, but they often work together.

If your ghost arrest was actually dismissed but the disposition was never recorded, you need both: a correction to add the missing disposition, then (typically) an expungement application to have the now-accurate non-conviction record formally purged.

If the HCJDC corrects your record and the updated entry shows a dismissal or acquittal, you can then file Form 159(b) for a standard administrative expungement — which will clear the arrest from the state database and (since July 2025, if the case meets the HRS § 831-3.2(f) sealing requirements) automatically remove it from eCourt Kōkua.

Our Hawaii Expungement Guide covers both the record challenge process and the expungement pipeline, including how to coordinate across multiple county agencies when your arrest and your current residence are on different islands.

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