Steven S. Alm is an American lawyer who is the current Prosecuting Attorney of Honolulu. 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 capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, living in

Manoa Mānoa (, ) is a valley and 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 Ala Moana and Waikiki at . Neighbo ...

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 f ...

. His parents were professors at the

University of Hawaiʻi The University of Hawaiʻi System, formally the University of Hawaiʻi and popularly known as UH, is a public college and university system that confers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through three universities, seven com ...

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 film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Paul Schrader, and starring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris, and Albert Brooks. Set in a decaying ...

. Alm attended the

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa The University of Hawaii at Mānoa (University of Hawaii—Mānoa, UH Mānoa, Hawai'i, or simply UH) is a public land-grant research university in Mānoa, a neighborhood in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is the flagship campus of the University of Haw ...

for two years before making a

college transfer College transfer is the anticipated movement students consider between education providers and the related institutional processes supporting those secondary and post-secondary learners who actually do move with completed coursework or training that ...

to the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

, where he received undergraduate and graduate degrees in

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty ...

. 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 t ...

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 ha ...

from 1983 to 1985, Alm began his legal career in the office of the Prosecuting Attorney of Honolulu in 1985, where he was director of the division focused on the district court and family court.

U.S. Attorney

Alm was appointed the

United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii The United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii — also known as the United States Attorney and U.S. Attorney — is the chief law enforcement officer representing the federal government in the United States District Court for the Di ...

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

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

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules Rule or ruling may refer to: Education ...

and providers of social services for a crime prevention effort in Chinatown and

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

– 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 Hawaii's Opportunity Probation with Enforcement (HOPE) is an intensive supervision program that aims to reduce crime and drug use while saving taxpayers' dollars spent on jail and prison costs. HOPE deals with offenders who have been identified as l ...

(HOPE), a program intended to reduce violations of

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

by people at high risk for recidivism, 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 produc ...

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 asp ...

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 Wa ...

. 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 or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

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 or news conference is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicians, corporations, non-governmental organ ...

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

; he also expressed support for the

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

in investigating home invasions targeting

old people Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage), OAPs (British usage ...

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