Haw. Rev. Stat. § 708-855

Current through the 2024 Legislative Session

Section 708-855 - Criminal simulation

(1) A person commits the offense of criminal simulation if, with intent to defraud, the person makes, alters, or utters any object, so that it appears to have an antiquity, rarity, source, or authorship that it does not in fact possess.

(2) In subsection (1), "utter" means to offer, whether accepted or not, an object with representation by acts or words, oral or in writing, relating to its antiquity, rarity, source, or authorship.

(3) Criminal simulation is a misdemeanor.

HRS § 708-855

L 1972, c 9, pt of §1; gen ch 1993

COMMENTARY ON § 708-855

The special case of objects which have value not for what they represent, but for what they are (e.g., antiques, works of art, rare natural objects, etc.), is dealt with separately from the forgery offenses. Cases of falsification as it relates to such objects are treated separately because (a) commercial and economic repercussions are not likely to extend significantly beyond the individuals involved in the transaction, (b) there exists no danger of undermining a substantial and necessary public confidence in a medium of commerce, and (c), with regard to the typically unusual, one-of-a-kind, items and transactions involved, a given individual is both more likely and more able to protect oneself against the offender.

Previous Hawaii law had no provisions equivalent to criminal simulation.