Why The Hawaii 2001 Law Change Was Inconclusive - KO3 Data Science Division

Hawai'i's Age-of-Consent Change (14 → 16): Why the Evidence Was Inconclusive and What Internal Warnings Indicated is a KO3 DSD (Data Science Division) policy-analysis paper (analysis led by Kenneth Schmidt/KENNYOUT3; dated January 28, 2026) that examines Hawai'i’s age-of-consent reform enacted as Act 1 (HB 236), which became law on July 10, 2001 and raised the age of consent from 14 to 16 using an age-gap approach aimed at adult/teen conduct

The paper explains why impact claims can remain empirically inconclusive: the reform changes legal definitions and enforcement pathways, while official evaluations repeatedly noted Hawai'i lacked systematic data on teens’ partner ages, limiting causal assessment of whether the law reduced adult sexual exploitation

It also documents the Task Force’s stated evidence limitations and highlights recommended measurement fixes (for example, partner-age data collection via surveys and service providers), alongside a methodological template for stronger evaluation designs