Mohala Wahine: A Quietly Radical Experiment in Criminal Justice (Gift link)

In downtown Honolulu, Judge Trish Morikawa sits behind her dais in a black robe as a defendant recounts her recent gender-reveal party. The woman has been on probation for more than a decade after a two-year stint in jail. She is one of roughly 30 women to appear before Judge Morikawa at an all-women’s court called Mohala Wahine or “blossoming woman.” Begun as a pilot program through a law enacted in 2022, the court was made permanent by the legislature last summer and is the first of its kind in the country...