The California Penal Code forms the basis for the application of criminal law in the American state of California.
The code is divided into Parts 1 and 2, which each contain "titles," some of these being subdivided into "chapters," with "sections"
comprising the smallest unit of content. The balance of this article will deal exclusively with Part 1, as Part 2 contains only administrative provisions.
The more notable numbers include:
- 164 - Suicide
- 187 - Murder
- 192 - Manslaughter
- 207 - Kidnapping
- 211 - Robbery
- 215 - Carjacking
- 240 - Assault
- 242 - Battery
- 245 - Assault with a deadly weapon (ADW, sometimes Great Body Injury - GBI) or with force likely to produce great bodily injury
- 261 - Rape
- 280 - Child Abduction
- 285 - Incest
- 288 - Child Molestation
- 314 - Indecent Exposure
- 415 - Disturbing the peace
- 417 - Brandishing a firearm
- 451 - Arson
- 459 - Burglary
- 470 - Forgery
- 484 - Theft or Larceny
- 487 - Grand Theft
- 488 - Petty Theft
- 496 - Receiving stolen property
- 594 - Malicious mischief/ Vandalism
- 597 - Animal cruelty
- 602 - Trespassing
- 647(b) - Prostitution
- 647(f) - Public Drunkenness or Public Intoxication
- 664 - Attempt (usually charged together with one of the above like 211; attempted murder was formerly covered in its own section, 217)
Perhaps the most controversial sections of the California Penal Code are the consecutive Sections 666 and 667; Section 666, known officially as
petty theft with a prior — and colloquially, felony petty theft — makes it possible for someone who committed a minor
shoplifting crime to be charged with a felony if the person had been convicted of any theft-related offense at any time in the past;
and if the person so charged has two previous felony convictions (listed as serious or violent felonies ("strikeable" offenses) this
in turn can result in a 25-years-to-life sentence under the state's three strikes law,
which is found in Section 667.
The inclusion of felony petty theft within the three-strikes law, and for that matter, the three-strikes law itself,
have sparked much debate both within and outside the state, and even beyond the United States. In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court
upheld the California three-strikes law against constitutional challenges in two cases where the third strike was a nonviolent crime —
Ewing v. California, 538 U.S. 11 (2003), and Lockyer v. Andrade,
538 U.S. 63 (2003).
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