BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 9
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 9 (Yee)
As Amended September 6, 2011
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :21-16
PUBLIC SAFETY 5-2 APPROPRIATIONS 9-6
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Ammiano, Cedillo, Hill, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, |
| |Mitchell, Skinner | |Bradford, Davis, Gatto, |
| | | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Knight, Hagman |Nays:|Harkey, Charles Calderon, |
| | | |Donnelly, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Wagner |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
PUBLIC SAFETY 4-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Ammiano, Cedillo, Hill, | | |
| |Mitchell | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Authorizes a prisoner who was under 18 years of age at
the time of committing an offense for which the prisoner was
sentenced to life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) to
submit a petition for recall and resentencing to the sentencing
court, as specified. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that when a defendant who was under 18 years of age
at the time of the commission of the offense for which the
defendant was sentenced to imprisonment to LWOP has served at
least 15 years of that sentence, the defendant may submit to
the sentencing court a petition for recall and re-sentencing.
2)States that a defendant sentenced to LWOP for an offense where
the defendant tortured his or her victim, or whose victim was
a public safety official including law enforcement personnel,
or a firefighter, or any other law enforcement officer who is
SB 9
Page 2
employed by the federal government, the state, or any of its
political subdivisions, is exempt from petitioning the court
for recall and resentencing.
3)Requires the petition to include a statement from the
defendant that he or she was under the age of 18 at the time
of the crime and was sentenced to LWOP, describe his or her
remorse and work towards rehabilitation, and that one of the
following is true:
a) The defendant was convicted of felony murder or aiding
and abetting murder provisions of law;
b) The defendant does not have juvenile felony
adjudications for assault or other felony crimes with a
significant potential for personal harm to victims prior to
the offense for which the sentence is being considered for
recall;
c) The defendant committed the offense with at least one
adult codefendant; or,
d) The defendant has performed acts that tend to indicate
rehabilitation or the potential for rehabilitation,
including, but not limited to, availing himself or herself
or rehabilitative, educational, or vocational programs, if
those programs have been available at his or her
classification level and facility, using self-study for
self-improvement, or showing evidence of remorse.
4)Requires the original petition to be filed with the sentencing
court and a copy of the petition to be served on the agency
that prosecuted the case.
5)Provides that if any of the information required to be
included in the petition or if proof of service on the
prosecuting agency is not provided, the court shall return the
petition to the defendant and advise the defendant that the
matter cannot be considered without the missing information.
6)States that a reply to the petition, if any, shall be filed
with the court within 60 days of the date on which the
prosecuting agency was served with the petition, unless a
continuance is granted for good cause.
SB 9
Page 3
7)Provides that if the court finds by a preponderance of the
evidence that the statements in the petition are true, the
court shall hold a hearing to consider whether to recall the
sentence and commitment previously ordered and to resentence
the defendant in the same manner as if the defendant had not
been previously sentenced, provided that the new sentence, if
any, is not greater than the initial sentence. Victims, or
victim family members if the victim is deceased, shall retain
the rights to participate in the hearing.
8)Provides factors the court may consider when determining
whether to recall and resentence which include, but are not
limited to, the following:
a) The defendant was convicted pursuant to felony murder or
aiding and abetting murder provisions of law;
b) The defendant does not have juvenile felony
adjudications for assault or other felony crimes with a
significant potential for personal harm to victims prior to
the offense for which the sentence is being considered for
recall;
c) The defendant committed the offense with at least one
adult codefendant;
d) Prior to the offense for which the sentence is being
considered for recall, the defendant had insufficient adult
support or supervision and had suffered from psychological
or physical trauma, or significant stress;
e) The defendant suffers from cognitive limitations due to
mental illness, developmental disabilities, or other
factors that did not constitute a defense, but influenced
the defendant's involvement in the offense;
f) The defendant has performed acts that tend to indicate
SB 9
Page 4
rehabilitation or the potential for rehabilitation,
including, but not limited to, availing himself or herself
of rehabilitative, educational, or vocational programs, if
those programs have been available at his or her
classification level and facility, using self-study for
self-improvement, or showing evidence of remorse;
g) The defendant has maintained family ties or connections
with others through letter writing, calls, or visits, or
has eliminated contact with individuals outside of prison
who are involved with crime; or,
h) The defendant has had no disciplinary actions for
violent activities in the last five years in which the
defendant was determined to be the aggressor.
9)States that the court shall have discretion to recall the
sentence and commitment previously ordered and to resentence
the defendant in the same manner as if the defendant had not
previously been sentenced, provided that the new sentence, if
any, is not greater than the initial sentence.
10)Mandates the court, in exercising its discretion, must
consider the criteria listed above. Victim, or victim family
members if the victim is deceased, shall be notified of the
resentencing hearing and shall retain their rights to
participate in the hearing.
11)States that if the sentence is not recalled, the defendant
may submit another petition for recall and resentencing to the
sentencing court when the defendant has been committed to the
custody of the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation for at least 20 years; and if not granted after
20 years, the defendant may file another petition after having
served 24 years. The final petition may be submitted, and,
the response to that petition shall be determined, during the
25th year of the defendant's sentence.
12)Provides that in addition to the criteria specified above,
the court may consider any other criteria that the court deems
relevant to its decision, so long as the court identifies them
on the record, provides a statement of reasons for adopting
SB 9
Page 5
them, and states why the defendant does or does not satisfy
the criteria.
13)States that this bill shall have retroactive application.
14)Double-joints this bill with SB 5 X1 (Budget and Fiscal
Review Committee) and AB 17 X1 (Blumenfield).
EXISTING LAW :
1)States that the penalty for a defendant found guilty of murder
in the first degree, in any case in which one or more special
circumstances enumerated in existing law has been found to be
true, who was 16 years of age or older and under the age of 18
years at the time of the commission of the crime, shall be
confinement in the state prison for life without the
possibility of parole or, at the discretion of the court, 25
years to life.
2)States that any person who is alleged, when he or she was 14
years of age or older, to have committed murder or one of the
specified sex offenses, shall be prosecuted under the general
law in a court of criminal jurisdiction.
3)States that with regard to a minor alleged to be a person
described in provisions of law related to juvenile delinquency
by reason of the violation, when he or she was 14 years of age
or older, of any of the offenses listed in existing law, upon
motion of the petitioner made prior to the attachment of
jeopardy the court shall cause the probation officer to
investigate and submit a report on the behavioral patterns and
social history of the minor being considered for a
determination of unfitness. Following submission and
consideration of the report, and of any other relevant
evidence that the petitioner or the minor may wish to submit,
the minor shall be presumed to be not a fit and proper subject
to be dealt with under the juvenile court law unless the
juvenile court concludes, based upon evidence, which evidence
may be of extenuating or mitigating circumstances, that the
minor would be amenable to the care, treatment, and training
program available through the facilities of the juvenile court
based upon an evaluation of each of the following criteria:
a) The degree of criminal sophistication exhibited by the
SB 9
Page 6
minor;
b) Whether the minor can be rehabilitated prior to the
expiration of the juvenile court's jurisdiction;
c) The minor's previous delinquent history;
d) Success of previous attempts by the juvenile court to
rehabilitate the minor; and,
e) The circumstances and gravity of the offenses alleged in
the petition to have been committed by the minor.
4)Provides that a minor within the jurisdiction of the juvenile
delinquency court may be sentenced to the Department of
Juvenile Facilities or tried as an adult, as specified, if he
or she has been charged with one of the following: murder;
arson, as specified; robbery; rape with force, violence, or
threat of great bodily harm; sodomy by force, violence,
duress, menace, or threat of great bodily harm; a lewd or
lascivious act on a person under the age of 14; oral
copulation by force, violence, duress, menace, or threat of
great bodily harm; forcible sexual penetration, as specified;
kidnapping for ransom; kidnapping for purposes of robbery;
kidnapping with bodily harm; attempted murder; assault with a
firearm or destructive device; assault by any means of force
likely to produce great bodily injury; discharge of a firearm
into an inhabited or occupied building; a specified violent
crime against a person over the age of 60; use of a firearm in
a crime, as specified; a felony offense in which the minor
personally used a weapon specified in existing law; a felony
offense of intimidating or dissuading a witness;
manufacturing, compounding, or selling one-half ounce or more
of a salt or solution of a depressant listed as a controlled
substance; a violent felony or gang crime, as specified;
escape, by the use of force or violence, from a county
juvenile hall, home, ranch, camp, or forestry camp, as
specified, if great bodily injury is intentionally inflicted
upon an employee of the juvenile facility during the
commission of the escape; torture; aggravated mayhem;
carjacking, while armed with a dangerous or deadly weapon;
kidnapping for purposes of sexual assault; kidnapping during
the commission of a carjacking; discharging a firearm into a
vehicle, as specified; or; voluntary manslaughter.
SB 9
Page 7
5)Allows a prosecuting agency to file an accusatory pleading in
a court of criminal jurisdiction, without a motion or hearing,
against a minor, who was 16 years of age or older at the time
of committing one of the enumerated offenses listed above, if
the minor has previously been found to be a ward of juvenile
court for a violation of a felony offense when he or she was
14 years of age or older.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Minor absorbable annual General Fund (GF) costs to the state
trial courts, likely less than $20,000 per year, to review and
respond to re-sentencing petitions, and to hold re-sentencing
hearings for petitions deemed eligible. This assumes an
average of about 20 petitions per year, and an average of
about five hearings, at a cost of about $2,000 per hearing.
These costs should be offset to a degree by an accompanying
reduction in writs of Habeas Corpus, by which inmates
challenge their convictions and/or sentences.
2)Potentially moderate annual out-year GF savings to the extent
inmates are re-sentenced from LWOP to life with the
possibility of parole. For example, if two inmates per year
are re-sentenced annually and end up serving 30 years rather
than life, with the first re-sentenced inmates leaving prison
in 2027, the annual savings of about $190,000 per ward, will
increase annually, reaching about $7 million in 2047.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Under existing California
law, youth under the age of 18 years old are sentenced to life
in prison without the possibility of parole. There is no system
of review for these cases. The use of this sentence for
juveniles 1) ignores neuroscience and well-accepted
understandings of adolescent development; 2) is a practice that
is in violation of international law and out of step with
international norms; and 3) in California, it is a policy that
is applied unjustly. Youth are different from adults. While
they should be held accountable for their actions, even those
who commit serious crimes should have the opportunity to prove
they have matured and changed."
SB 9
Page 8
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Stella Choe / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744
FN: 0002780