California Penal Code Sections

California’s Penal Code contains the state’s criminal laws and offenses. Understanding key Penal Code sections is important for criminal defendants, law enforcement, legal professionals, and anyone interested in California law.

This article provides an overview of some of the most important California Penal Code sections, their elements, penalties, and recent changes or proposed reforms.

Penal Code Section 148 – Resisting Arrest

Penal Code 148 makes it a misdemeanor to resist, delay, or obstruct a police officer in the course of their duties. To be guilty under PC 148, the defendant must:

• Know an officer is performing their lawful duties
• Willfully resist the officer through force or violence

Potential penalties for resisting arrest under PC 148 include up to 1 year in county jail and a maximum $1000 fine. Recent reforms have proposed reducing this to an infraction in cases without violence.

Penal Code Section 192 – Manslaughter

PC 192 defines manslaughter as an unlawful killing that does not amount to murder. Involuntary manslaughter involves an accidental killing through negligence. Voluntary manslaughter involves intentional killing due to provocation or heat of passion.

Manslaughter is a felony punishable by up to 11 years in prison. Sentences tend to range from probation up to 6 years.

Penal Code Section 211 – Robbery

Under PC 211, robbery is the felonious taking of personal property in the possession of another, against their will, accomplished by means of force or fear. Robbery requires:

• Taking property not your own
• From a person or immediate presence
• Against the victim’s will
• Using force or fear

Robbery is a felony punishable by 2-5 years in prison. Using a deadly weapon adds an additional year.

Penal Code Section 215 – Carjacking

PC 215 defines carjacking as robbery (PC 211) where a motor vehicle is taken by force or fear from the immediate presence of the driver, passenger, or occupant. Penalties for carjacking include:

• 3-9 years in prison for the taking of a vehicle
• 5-9 years if the victim suffers bodily harm
• 9-12 years if the victim suffers great bodily injury

Recent attempted reforms sought to allow juveniles to seal carjacking offenses, but failed.

Penal Code Section 187 – Murder

PC 187 defines murder as the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. Degrees include:

• First degree murder – willful, deliberate, premeditated
• Second degree murder – intentional but without premeditation

Penalties for first degree murder include 25 years to life in prison. Second degree murder brings 15 years to life. Reforms have focused on limiting felony murder rules.

Penal Code Section 207 – Kidnapping

Under PC 207, kidnapping involves forcibly taking, detaining, or carrying away another person against their will. It requires:

• Using force or instilling reasonable fear
• Moving the victim a substantial distance
• Doing so without lawful authority

Base penalties for kidnapping are 3-8 years in prison, extended to life with ransom demands or bodily harm. Reforms seek to limit life sentences where victims are freed unharmed.

Penal Code Section 288 – Child Sex Crimes

PC 288 makes it a felony to commit lewd or lascivious acts with a child under age 14 using force, violence, duress, menace or fear. Penalties include:

• 3-8 years in prison for a first offense
• 5-10 years if substantial sexual conduct occurred
• 15-life if force or fear was used

Proposed reforms aim to allow retroactive reduced sentencing and registry removal in some cases.

Penal Code Section 422 – Criminal Threats

Under PC 422, it’s a felony to willfully threaten to commit a crime resulting in death or great bodily injury to another person. The threat must be:

• Specific and unequivocal
• Imminent
• Convey a gravity of purpose and immediate prospect of execution

Criminal threats carry up to 3 years in prison. Reforms make it easier to seal criminal threat convictions from records.

Penal Code Section 496 – Receiving Stolen Property

PC 496 makes it illegal to buy, sell, receive, conceal, or withhold property known to be stolen. Elements include:

• Property was obtained through theft or extortion
• Knowing the property was stolen
• Actually receiving, concealing, selling or withholding that property

Penalties include up to 3 years in jail. Recent reforms reduced certain felony receiving stolen property offenses to misdemeanors.

Penal Code Section 245 – Assault with Deadly Weapon

PC 245 defines assault with a deadly weapon as attempting to commit violent injury on another person, or committing an act that by its nature would directly result in force, with a deadly weapon or instrument. It requires:

• A deadly weapon or force likely to produce great bodily injury
• Intent to commit violence upon the person of another

Penalties range from 2-4 years in prison. Reforms reduced this from a straight felony to a “wobbler” offense.

Penal Code Section 647 – Lewd Conduct

PC 647 prohibits disorderly conduct such as prostitution, public drunkenness, peeping, and indecent exposure. Specifically, it prohibits:

• Lewd conduct in public
• Soliciting prostitution
• Public intoxication on drugs or alcohol
• Peeping into inhabited places

Penalties include up to 6 months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Recent reforms reduced penalties and allow record sealing for some convictions.

Conclusion

These key sections of the California Penal Code define the state’s most serious felony and misdemeanor crimes and their punishments. Understanding the elements and penalties under these codes is essential for anyone facing criminal prosecution or interested in criminal justice reform.