Steven S. Alm is an American lawyer who is the current

Prosecuting Attorney of Honolulu The Prosecuting Attorney of Honolulu is one of only two countywide elected positions in the Honolulu County, Hawaii, City & County of Honolulu in the Hawaii, State of Hawai'i. The officeholder is responsible for the prosecution of people for offe ...

. A former Hawaii circuit court judge and

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

, he was sworn into the position of prosecutor on January 2, 2021.

Early life and education

Alm was born in

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, living in

Manoa Manoa (, ; ) is a valley on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. It is a residential neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii. The neighborhood is approximately three miles (5 km) east and inland from downtown Honolulu and less than a mile (1600 m) from ...

and later

Kaimuki Kaimukī is a residential neighborhood in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. History In the 19th century the area was a farm of King Kalākaua, where ostriches roamed wild over the mountain side. It later became the site of a carnation farm for ...

. His parents were professors at the

University of Hawaiʻi The University of Hawaiʻi System is a public college and university system in Hawaii. The system confers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through three universities, seven community colleges, an employment training center, ...

College of Education, and he and his brother attended University Lab School. He worked for Dole Cannery in the summers, beginning after tenth grade, and later as a

taxi driver ''Taxi Driver'' is a 1976 American neo-noir psychological drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. Set in a morally decaying New York City following the Vietnam War, it stars Robert De Niro as veteran Marine and ...

. Alm attended the

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The University of Hawaii at Mānoa is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Hawaiʻi system and houses the main offic ...

for two years before making a

college transfer College transfer refers to the process by which students in postsecondary education move from attending one institution at that level to another institution at that level. It does not normally refer to the process by which students in secondary ed ...

to the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

, where he received undergraduate and graduate degrees in

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

. While at the University of Oregon, he met his future wife, Haunani; they have one son.

Legal qualifications

Alm attended the

McGeorge School of Law University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law is a private, American Bar Association (ABA)-approved law school in the Oak Park neighborhood of the city of Sacramento, California. It is part of the University of the Pacific and is located on ...

in Sacramento and passed the Hawaii bar in October 1985.

Career

After working at

West Publishing Company West (also known by its original name, West Publishing) is a business owned by Thomson Reuters that publishes legal, business, and regulatory information in print, and on electronic services such as Westlaw. Since the late 19th century, West has ...

from 1983 to 1985, Alm began his legal career in the office of the

in 1985, where he was director of the division focused on the

district court District courts are a category of courts which exists in several nations, some call them "small case court" usually as the lowest level of the hierarchy. These courts generally work under a higher court which exercises control over the lower co ...

and

family court Family courts were originally created to be a Court of Equity convened to decide matters and make orders in relation to family law, including custody of children, and could disregard certain legal requirements as long as the petitioner/plaintif ...

U.S. Attorney

Alm was appointed the United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii by

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

in 1994, and led the local Weed and Seed program, coordinating

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

and providers of

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

for a

crime prevention Crime prevention refers to strategies and measures that seek to reduce the risk of crime occurring by intervening before a crime has been committed. It encompasses many approaches, including developmental, situational, community-based and crimin ...

effort in

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

and

Kalihi Kalihi is a neighborhood of Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi, United States. Split by Likelike Highway (Route 63), it is flanked by Liliha, Chinatown, and Downtown Honolulu to the east and Mapunapuna, Moanalua, and Salt Lake t ...

– Pālama. He has claimed that the program reduced crime in those areas by 70% over three years, and that the rate began to rise again after he left the U.S. Attorney position.

Circuit court judge

Alm subsequently served as a judge on the Hawaii First Circuit Court from 2001 to 2016. In 2004, he founded Hawaii's Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE), a program intended to reduce violations of

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

by people at high risk for

recidivism Recidivism (; from 'recurring', derived from 'again' and 'to fall') is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or have been trained to Extinction (psycholo ...

, especially people arrested for

drug-related crime A drug-related crime is a crime to possess, manufacture, or distribute drugs classified as having a potential for abuse (such as cocaine, heroin, morphine and amphetamines). Drugs are also related to crime as drug trafficking and drug product ...

s. The program went on to be used in some form by 32 other states. He retired from his position as a judge on August 31, 2016, and was subsequently honored by the

Honolulu City Council Honolulu City Council is the legislature of the City and County of Honolulu, the capital and largest city in Hawai'i, the fiftieth state in the United States. The City and County of Honolulu is a municipal corporation that manages government a ...

for his founding of and advocacy for HOPE.

Prosecuting Attorney of Honolulu

After campaigning with the endorsement of the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers on a platform of restoring the public's trust in the prosecutor's office, and defeating former Honolulu Deputy Prosecutor Megan Kau in the election for the position, Alm was elected to a four-year term as Prosecuting Attorney of Honolulu. He was sworn in on January 2, 2021 by Mark E. Recktenwald at

Neal S. Blaisdell Center The Neal S. Blaisdell Center is a community center near downtown Honolulu, Hawaii. The complex has a multi-purpose arena, concert hall, exhibition hall, galleria, meeting rooms, Waikiki Shell and others. Constructed in 1964 on the historic W ...

. He was 67 years old at the time. Dozens of people were additionally sworn in as deputy prosecutors during the ceremony. In addition to restoring public trust, Alm additionally stated his intent to train deputy prosecutors in

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

and trial skills, divide them into specialized teams, and consider restructuring the office. In his 100-day plan, which was shared in a

press conference A press conference, also called news conference or press briefing, is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalism, journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicia ...

on January 12, 2021, Alm shared that he intended to be more aggressive in prosecuting crimes including

domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...

and

child sex trafficking Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child ...

; he also expressed support for the

Honolulu Police Department The Honolulu Police Department (HPD) is the principal law enforcement agency of the Honolulu County, Hawaii, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, headquartered in the Alapa'i Police Headquarters in Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu CDP. Officially re ...

in investigating

home invasion A home invasion, also called a hot prowl burglary, is a sub-type of burglary (or in some jurisdictions, a separately defined crime) in which an offender unlawfully enters into a building residence while the occupants are inside. The overarching i ...

s targeting

old people Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alm, Steven S. 1950s births Living people University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa alumni United States attorneys for the District of Hawaii Circuit court judges in the United States Hawaii state court judges Politicians from Honolulu University of Oregon alumni District attorneys in Hawaii University of the Pacific (United States) alumni University Laboratory School (Honolulu, Hawaii) alumni