A New York Times opinion piece explores Hawaii's Women's Court, a community-based alternative to traditional criminal justice that the author describes as "quietly radical." The program takes a different approach to handling cases involving women, particularly those caught up in the justice system for non-violent offenses.

The author initially thought they were covering a "niche little program" but discovered it was far larger than expected. During a visit to Hawaii, they interviewed the then-chief justice and even sat in on hula classes as part of understanding the program's holistic approach. The experience challenged their assumptions about what criminal justice reform can look like.

The author notes the model appears significantly cheaper than our dominant model of justice and questions why it hasn't been adopted more widely across the United States. They ask readers what could "move the dial" on implementing creative solutions to intractable problems around violence reduction and criminal justice reform.