Being Arrested
HRS 803-9 — family or a lawyer at reasonable intervals, and charged or released within 48 hours
No arrest is made without first obtaining a warrant, except where the law provides otherwise. A police officer may arrest without a warrant anyone the officer has probable cause to believe has committed any offense, whether in the officer's presence or not.
Who handles this in Hawaii: Office of the Public Defender and Hawaii State Bar Association, Lawyer Referral and Information Service; and legal aid programs and the state offices, listed in the Hawaii directory.
Probable cause means facts and circumstances, within the officer's knowledge or from reasonably trustworthy information, enough to make a person of reasonable caution believe a crime has been or is being committed.
At or before the arrest, an officer of justice declares that office. An officer arresting without a warrant gives the person clearly to understand the cause of the arrest. For a misdemeanor, petty misdemeanor or violation, the officer may issue a citation instead, where satisfied the person will appear in court, has no outstanding warrants, and that there will be no further police contact over the offense.
- It is unlawful to deny an arrested person the right to see counsel or a family member at reasonable intervals and for a reasonable time where the person is held.
- It is unlawful to unreasonably refuse to send a message, at the person's request and prepaid cost, to counsel or a family member.
- It is unlawful to deny counsel or family the right to see or communicate with the person, at any time for a first communication after the arrest and at reasonable intervals after.
- Once the person asks to see an attorney or family member, it is unlawful to examine the person before a fair opportunity to see and consult them.
- It is unlawful to fail, within 48 hours of an arrest on suspicion of a crime, either to release the person or to charge them and take them before a qualified magistrate.
A citation is a promise to appear. A knowing failure to appear in answer to a citation may be punished by a fine of up to $1,000, up to 30 days in jail, or both, and a warrant may issue.
Several rules about an arrest come from the Supreme Court of the United States rather than from this state's code. It has held that before questioning a person in custody, officers must warn that the person may remain silent, that anything said can be used against them, and that they have a right to a lawyer, appointed if they cannot afford one; that a person arrested without a warrant is entitled to a prompt decision by a judge on whether there was probable cause; and that officers generally need a warrant to search the data on a phone taken from a person they arrested. Those holdings are a floor: a state's own constitution and statutes can give more protection than they do, never less.
Sources for this section (7)
- HRS 803-1 — Arrest; by warrant
- HRS 803-5 — By police officer without warrant
- HRS 803-6 — Arrest, how made
- HRS 803-9 — Examination after arrest; rights of arrested person
- Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966) — Right to remain silent and to counsel during custodial interrogation
- County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U.S. 44 (1991) — Probable cause review generally within 48 hours of a warrantless arrest
- Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373 (2014) — Police need a warrant to search a phone seized during an arrest
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Hawaii attorney.