Hawaii Revised Statutes
702. General Principles of Penal Liability
702-201 "Voluntary act" defined. §702-201 Commentary:

§702-201 "Voluntary act" defined. "Voluntary act" means a bodily movement performed consciously or habitually as the result of the effort or determination of the defendant. [L 1972, c 9, pt of §1]
COMMENTARY ON §702-201
This section defines "voluntary act" in general terms relying chiefly on the characteristic of voluntariness--the effort and determination of the defendant. The Code's formulation is intended to exclude from the category of voluntary action such bodily movements as (a) reflex or convulsions, (b) bodily movements during unconsciousness and sleep, (c) conduct during hypnosis or resulting from hypnotic suggestion, and (d) any other bodily movement that is not a product of the effort and determination of the defendant, either conscious or habitual.
The exclusion of involuntary action from the scope of penal liability must be viewed in the light of the provisions of chapter 704 on physical disease, disorder, and defect which exclude penal responsibility. In that chapter acquittal is conditioned on submission to treatment or commitment tailored to the condition which excludes responsibility. The Code attempts to provide "therapy or ... custodial commitment"[1] for those dangerous individuals who are unable to conform their conduct to the requirements of the law because of some condition which would be difficult to regard as a "mental disease or defect" under orthodox treatment of penal irresponsibility. At the same time, because treatment is flexible and tailored to the condition in question, it does not bear "harshly on the individual whose condition is nonrecurrent."[2]
No prior Hawaii statutory provision dealt with the issue of voluntariness of acts (other than in its relation to duress or mental disease, disorder, or defect), however, a recent case tends to support the position of the Code.3
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§702-201 Commentary:
1. M.P.C., Tentative Draft No. 4, comments at 119 (1955).
2. Id. at 121.
3. See State v. Matsuda, 50 Haw. 128, 432 P.2d 888 (1967).

Structure Hawaii Revised Statutes

Hawaii Revised Statutes

Title 37. Hawaii Penal Code

702. General Principles of Penal Liability

702-200 Requirement of voluntary act or voluntary omission. §702-200 Commentary:

702-201 "Voluntary act" defined. §702-201 Commentary:

702-202 Voluntary act includes possession. §702-202 Commentary:

702-203 Penal liability based on an omission. §702-203 Commentary:

702-204 State of mind required. §702-204 Commentary:

702-205 Elements of an offense. §702-205 Commentary:

702-206 Definitions of states of mind. §702-206 Commentary:

702-207 Specified state of mind applies to all elements. §702-207 Commentary:

702-208 Substitutes for negligence, recklessness, and knowledge. §702-208 Commentary:

702-209 Conditional intent.

702-210 Requirement of wilfulness satisfied by acting knowingly. §702-210 Commentary:

702-211 State of mind as determinant of grade or class of a particular offense. §702-211 Commentary:

702-212 When state of mind requirements are inapplicable to violations and to crimes defined by statutes other than this Code. §702-212 Commentary:

702-213 Effect of absolute liability in reducing grade of offense to violation. §702-213 Commentary:

702-214 Causal relationship between conduct and result. §702-214 Commentary:

702-215 Intentional or knowing causation; different result from that intended or contemplated. §702-215 Commentary:

702-216 Reckless or negligent causation; different result from that within the risk.

702-217 Causation in offenses of absolute liability. §702-217 Commentary:

702-218 Ignorance or mistake as a defense. §702-218 Commentary:

702-219 Ignorance or mistake; reduction in grade and class of the offense. §702-219 Commentary:

702-220 Ignorance or mistake of law; belief that conduct not legally prohibited. §702-220 Commentary:

702-221 Liability for conduct of another. §702-221 Commentary:

702-222 Liability for conduct of another; complicity. §702-222 Commentary:

702-223 Liability for conduct of another; complicity with respect to the result.

702-224 Liability for conduct of another; exemption from complicity. §702-224 Commentary:

702-225 Liability for conduct of another; incapacity of defendant; failure to prosecute or convict or immunity of other person. §702-225 Commentary:

702-226 Liability for conduct of another; multiple convictions; different degrees. §702-226 Commentary:

702-227 Penal liability of corporations and unincorporated associations. §702-227 Commentary:

702-228 Liability of persons acting, or under a duty to act, in behalf of corporations or unincorporated associations. §702-228 Commentary:

702-229 Definitions relating to corporations and unincorporated associations.

702-230 Intoxication. §702-230 Commentary:

702-231 Duress.

702-232 Military orders.

702-233 Consent; general. §702-233 Commentary:

702-234 Consent to bodily injury. §702-234 Commentary:

702-235 Ineffective consent. §702-235 Commentary:

702-236 De minimis infractions. §702-236 Commentary:

702-237 Entrapment. §702-237 Commentary: