BILL ANALYSIS
AB 300
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Date of Hearing: April 3, 2001
Counsel: Gregory Pagan
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Carl Washington, Chair
AB 300 (Simitian) - As Introduced: February 16, 2001
SUMMARY : Limits custody credits to no more than 20% of the
actual time served for any person convicted under the
"three-strikes" law while in the county jail awaiting trial.
Specifically, this bill provides that unless another statute
provides for fewer credits or no credits, in the case of a
defendant sentenced under the "three-strikes" law, the maximum
credit earned against a period of confinement in a county or
city jail following arrest and prior to placement in the custody
of the Director of the California Department of Corrections
(CDC) shall not exceed 20% of the actual period of confinement.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that for each six-day period in which a prisoner is
confined in or committed to the county jail, two days shall be
deducted from the period of confinement if the prisoner has
satisfactorily performed labor as assigned and complied with
the rules and regulations ("good-time" participation credits).
(Penal Code Section 4019.)
2)Provides that the total amount of credits awarded under the
"three-strikes" law shall not exceed 20% of the total term of
imprisonment imposed and not accrue until the defendant is
physically placed in state prison. [Penal Code Section
667(c)(5).]
3)Allows CDC, with specific exceptions, to reduce the sentence
of a person committed to CDC by one-third for good behavior
and participation, and may reduce the sentence by as much as
one-half for participation in one-half-time credit qualifying
assignments or educational programs. (Penal Code Sections
2931 and 2933.)
4)Provides that any person convicted of a "violent" felony, as
specified, shall accrue no more than 15% work-time credit.
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[Penal Code Section 2933.1(a).]
5)Provides that any person convicted of murder, as defined,
shall not accrue any work-time credit. (Penal Code Section
2933.2.)
6)Provides that if a defendant is convicted of a felony offense
and it is pled and proved that the defendant has previously
been convicted of two or more serious or violent offenses as
specified, the term for the current conviction is an
indeterminate term of life in prison with the minimum term
calculated as the greater of 25 years, three times the term
provided for each current felony conviction, or the
determinate term which would otherwise be imposed including
enhancements. (Penal Code Sections 667 and 1170.12.)
7)Provides that if a defendant is convicted of a felony offense
and it is pled and proved that the defendant has been
convicted of one prior serious or violent offense as defined,
the term of imprisonment is twice the term otherwise imposed
for the current offense. (Penal Code Sections 667 and
1170.12.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement . According to the author, "Under current
law, the 1/5 (20%) limitation on conduct credit reduction in
'strike' cases applies to prison credits but not to county
jail credits. Prisoners confined to county jail may receive
two days conduct credit for every four days of confinement
[one day for following the rules and one day for
satisfactorily performing labor]. Current law allows 'strike'
defendants to receive twice the amount of credit for time
served in county jail than is received in state prison.
"This difference in conduct credit calculation encourages delay
by defendants which results in increased confinement costs for
counties and increased trial costs for the judicial system.
"AB 300 would eliminate this incentive by amending Penal Code
Section 4019 to make county conduct credits the same as state
prison conduct credits or no more than '20% of the actual
period of confinement'."
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2)Background . Custody credit provisions of the "three strikes"
law [Penal Code Section 667(c)(5)] limits the amount of prison
credits to 20%, precludes credit accrual until a defendant is
physically in prison, and does not expressly refer to
pre-sentence custody credits accrued in the county jail while
awaiting trial. Penal Code Section 4019 provides that while
confined in the county jail, a prisoner accrues two days of
participation credits for every four days served.
In People v. Hill (1995) 37 Cal. App. 4th 220, the Court of
Appeal addressed this issue and held that a defendant was
entitled to his or her reduction in sentence for time spent in
the county jail in accordance with Penal Code 4019 even though
the defendant was sentenced under the "three-strikes" law,
which limits the amount of prison credits and precludes
accrual until the defendant is physically placed in prison.
This subsection does not expressly refer or apply to
pre-sentence custody credits and cannot be construed to
eliminate pre-sentence custody credits. This bill requires
that defendants sentenced under the "three-strikes" law
receive only 20% conduct credit while awaiting trial in the
county jail.
3)Calculation of Credits . Penal Code Section 4019 provides that
for each six-day period in which a prisoner is confined in or
committed to the county jail, two days shall be deducted from
the period of confinement if the prisoner has satisfactorily
performed labor as assigned and complied with the rules and
regulations ("good-time" participation credits). The amount
of pre-sentence conduct credit for nonviolent offenses is
calculated by dividing the number of days spent in custody by
four and rounding down to the nearest whole number; this
number is then multiplied by two and the total added to the
original number of days spent in custody [ People v. Williams
(2000) 79 Cal. App 4th 1157]. For example, a person who
serves eight months or 240 days in the county jail would
receive four months or 120 days custody credits. The 120 days
custody credits is added to the 240 days spent in custody for
a total of 360 days or a one-year credit for time served.
Although conduct credits on county jail time are equal to
approximately one-half of the time actually served, when added
to the actual time spent in custody, it results in a one-third
reduction in sentence. This bill reduces these custody
credits from one-third to 20% for persons charged under the
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"three-strikes" law.
Example
Computation
County Jail
Actual Time Spent in Custody = 400 days
Conduct Credit Reduction = 200 days (400
divided by 4 = 100 x 2 = 200)
Credit For Time Served = 600 days (400 plus
200)
Prison
Prison Term = 600 days
Conduct Credit Reduction = 120 days (20% or
1/5 of 600)
Actual Time Spent in Custody = 480 days
Results
A defendant who receives 600 days credit for time served in the
county jail, spends 400 days in actual custody, and receives
a 200-day sentence reduction. A person sentenced to 600 days
in state prison would serve 480 days, and receive a 120-day
sentence reduction. Thus, a county jail inmate awaiting
sentence under the "three-strikes" law would receive 200 days
of credit, while his or her counterpart in the state prison
would receive 120 days of credit. The 200-day credit results
in a one-third sentence reduction for county jail inmates, and
the 120-day credit in the state prison results in a one-fifth
sentence reduction. A state prison inmate serving 600 days
with 20% credit sentence would serve 80 days more than a
person confined in the county jail who receives 600 days of
credit for time served. If a "three-strike" defendant were to
spend one year in the county jail as opposed to the state
prison, there would be a four-month sentence reduction as
opposed to approximately a two- and one-half month reduction
in the state prison. This is not a significant reduction in
credits; it is unlikely, if this bill were to pass, that
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counties would experience any significant savings, assuming
that "strike" defendants prolong their stays in the county
jail to take advantage of the credit disparity.
4)Violent Felonies . Penal Code Section 2933.1 provides that
notwithstanding any other provision of law, the maximum
participation credits which a person convicted of a violent
felony may earn shall not exceed 15%. In People v. Caceres
(1997) 52 Cal. App. 4th 106, the court held that neither the
"three-strikes" law nor Penal Code 4019 operate to pre-empt
the 15% limitation of Penal Code Section 2933.1. Thus, in a
situation where a "three-strikes" defendant is convicted of a
violent felony, the pre-sentence custody credits is limited to
15%. This ruling's effect is that this bill's provisions
reducing the amount of pre-sentence, custody credits only
applies to those "three-strike" defendants whose current
offenses are non-violent. In light of this, would the
county's financial burden be significantly reduced?
5)County Jail Incentive . Proponents of this bill argue that the
current system of giving a "three-strike" defendant a
one-third reduction in credits at the county level and 20%
credits on the state level gives a defendant an incentive to
delay his or her trial and stay in the county jail. Because
of the lengthy potential sentences, "three-strike" cases -
even on a second strike - require a great deal of
investigation and preparation, which accounts for longer
county jail stays. There has been no evidence offered to
suggest that "strike" defendants are staying in the county
jail for longer periods of time to take advantage of the
reduction of sentences. In addition, there is no evidence to
suggest that if this bill becomes law, defendants would not
still remain in the county jail for lengthy periods of time
while their cases are being prepared for trial. Also,
criminal defendants often prefer to remain on the county level
where they are closer to family and friends.
6)Prior Legislation . AB 67 (Cunneen) of the 1999 Legislative
Session limited custody credits to no more than 20% of the
actual time served for any person convicted under the
"three-strikes" law while in the county jail awaiting trial.
AB 67 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee
suspense file.
7)Arguments in Support . According to the Santa Clara County
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District Attorney's Office, "Penal Code Section 4019 as
currently written provides a strong incentive for violent and
repeat felons destined for prison to postpone case resolution
as long as possible because sentencing credits for them while
pending trial are greater than those post-trial. Penal Code
Section 2900.5 calculates jail time credit (where defendants
await trial) according to Penal Code Section 4019; every four
days spent in custody is worth six days. However, according
to Penal Code Section 2933.1, a violent felon can earn no more
than 15% work-time credits after sentence to state prison.
According to Penal Code Section 667(c)(5), a two-strike felon
can earn no more than 20% work-time credits after sentence to
state prison. The incentive to delay is clear."
8)Arguments in Opposition . The California Public Defenders
Association states, "AB 300 would reduce 'good-time' credits
for individuals or persons who have previously been convicted
of certain felonies for their period of confinement in county
jail while awaiting trial or prior to their placement in the
custody of the Director of CDC. This bill would reduce those
credits from one-third of the time served to no more than 20%
of the actual period of confinement.
"This bill will require taxpayers to unnecessarily bear the cost
of an additional period of incarceration at the end of the
sentence for felons already in prison and nearing their
release date. Insofar as these inmates are already serving
extremely long sentences in state prison, we do not believe
that adding a few months, at most, to their sentences is of
significant social value when weighed against the cost."
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California District Attorneys Association
California Peace Officers' Association
California Police Chiefs' Association
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office
Opposition
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
California Public Defenders Association
AB 300
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Analysis Prepared by : Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744