Each week on national television, almost 2 million viewers tune in to watch Duane "Dog" Chapman, aka "Dog the Bounty Hunter."

Against the backdrop of Hawaiian melody and sandy Waikiki beaches, Dog and his crew make it their mission to rescue Hawai'i from crime. Each week, as he takes down "fugitives" with verbal abuse and physical force, audiences are captivated by Dog's aggressive style; but Dog has a soft side, too.

Paternalistic lectures on the evils of crime and drugs always follow violent scenes. As he apprehends a bail-jumper, for example, and carts him away in cuffs, Dog and his entourage promise the criminal's family, "We'll take good care of your son. We'll get him the help he needs to straighten out his life." Viewers tune in each week for more exciting, "real-life" drama that explores the underbelly of crime and justice in Hawai'i.

The show is chalked up as "entertainment," but closer examination of this real-life series exposes some deep flaws in Dog's approach, our criminal justice system and a viewing audience that finds this sort of justice entertaining.

The first flaw is with the Dog's "tough love" message, which many viewers find so compelling. In fact, his approach reflects a popular perception about crime and justice — namely, that criminals will not stop unless forced to do hard time in prison. In actuality, the criminal justice system rarely turns lives around. Anyone taken in by the message that a drug addict will change his lifestyle as a result of being locked up should think again.

The facts tell us that this is a bold-faced lie. Eight out of 10 of Hawai'i's drug addicts do not receive drug treatment services while incarcerated. The majority return to society without rehabilitation, and two-thirds return to prison within a few years.

Thus, the public and Dog are wrong if they assume that a prison sentence will lead to redemption.

The U.S. criminal justice system is currently focused on punishment — not rehabilitation or redemption. It is important for viewers to know the following history: The passage of a series of punitive laws since the 1980s has eroded correction programs and markedly increased prison terms. As a result, the U.S. inmate population has increased from a few hundred thousand in the '70s to over 2 million today.

It is important for all of us to face the fact that our incarceration system does not exist to help; it exists to punish.

Most bail jumpers in Dog's show are poor, often Native Hawaiian and frequently drug addicts. This provides another key lesson presented in the show. Native Hawaiians make up 20 percent of Hawai'i's general population, yet they represent over 40 percent of the state's prison population, according to the state Department of Public Safety.

As with other inmate populations in the continental U.S., Hawai'i's prison populations have dramatically increased since the 1980s. Native Hawaiian inmate populations have grown at twice the rate of any other ethnic group in the state. The situation is further exacerbated by the state's sending prisoners out of state. More than 40 percent of such prisoners are Native Hawaiians. As a result, they experience profound isolation, family separation and loss of culture.

The second flaw is that the TV show represents a modern-day narrative about racism and colonization. Missionaries came to save Native Hawaiians, just as Dog and his crew have come to save Native Hawaiians from a life of crime.

Historical images of natives as savages advanced the colonial project in Hawai'i, while 21st-century images of natives as criminals advance punitive, tough-on-crime policies. The overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom and the imprisonment of Queen Lili'uokalani were aided by a moral panic among American government and business agents.

More than 100 years later, we have a new moral panic — one that is focused on fears of crime. Now, criminal justice agents and this reality TV show tell us that the key to public safety is to incarcerate Native Hawaiians — at a rate double that of any other ethnic group in the state.

The irony? Public safety equals the criminalization and imprisonment of Native Hawaiians who are severed from their culture. It is important to note that this profit comes at a huge cost to the Native Hawaiian community. The real key to public safety is rehabilitation, including drug treatment, community-based transition programs, and education and employment training — not Dog or punitive crime legislation.

RaeDeen Keahiolalo Karasuda is a Ph.D. candidate, department of political science, UH-Manoa; Katherine Irwin is an assistant professor of sociology, UH-Manoa.