BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 473
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 25, 2013
Chief Counsel: Gregory Pagan
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Tom Ammiano, Chair
SB 473 ( Block) - As Amended: May 28, 2013
As Proposed to be Amended in Committee
SUMMARY : Adds pimping, pandering, and human trafficking to the
list of offenses that may be used to establish a pattern of
criminal activity for the purpose of enhancing the sentence of
any person who commits a crime for the benefit of a criminal
street gang.
EXISTING LAW :
1)States any person who actively participates in any criminal
street gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have
engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and who
willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious
criminal conduct by members of that gang, shall be punished by
imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed one
year, or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or
two or three years. [Penal Code Section 186.22(a).]
2)Defines a "criminal street gang" as any ongoing organization,
association, or group of three or more persons, whether formal
or informal, having as one of its primary activities the
commission of one or more of the criminal acts enumerated in
existing law having a common name or common identifying sign
or symbol, and whose members individually or collectively
engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang
activity. [Penal Code Section 186.22(f).]
3)Defines a "pattern of criminal gang activity" as the
commission of, attempted commission of, conspiracy to commit,
or solicitation of, sustained juvenile petition for, or
conviction of two or more of the following offenses, provided
at least one of these offenses occurred after the effective
date of this chapter and the last of those offenses occurred
within three years after a prior offense, and the offenses
were committed on separate occasions, or by two or more
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persons: assault with a deadly weapon or by means of force
likely to produce great bodily injury; robbery; unlawful
homicide or manslaughter; the sale, possession for sale,
transportation, manufacture, offer for sale, or offer to
manufacture controlled substances; shooting at an inhabited
dwelling or occupied motor vehicle; discharging or permitting
the discharge of a firearm from a motor vehicle; arson; the
intimidation of witnesses and victims; grand theft; grand
theft of any firearm, vehicle, trailer, or vessel; burglary;
rape; looting; money laundering; kidnapping; mayhem;
aggravated mayhem; torture; felony extortion; felony
vandalism; carjacking; the sale, delivery, or transfer of a
firearm; possession of a pistol, revolver, or other firearm
capable of being concealed upon the person; threats to commit
crimes resulting in death or great bodily injury; theft and
unlawful taking or driving of a vehicle; felony theft of an
access card or account information; counterfeiting, designing,
using, attempting to use an access card; felony fraudulent use
of an access card or account information; unlawful use of
personal identifying information to obtain credit, goods,
services, or medical information; wrongfully obtaining
Department of Motor Vehicles documentation; prohibited
possession of a firearm, and; carrying a concealed or loaded
firearm. [Penal Code Section 186.22(e).]
4)States except as provided in existing law, any person who is
convicted of a felony committed for the benefit of, at the
direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang,
with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any
criminal conduct by gang members, shall, upon conviction of
that felony, in addition and consecutive to the punishment
prescribed for the felony or attempted felony of which he or
she has been convicted, be punished as follows:
a) Except as provided in existing law, the person shall be
punished by an additional term of two, three, or four years
at the court's discretion.
b) If the felony is a serious felony, as specified, the
person shall be punished by an additional term of five
years.
c) If the felony is a violent felony, as specified, the
person shall be punished by an additional term of 10 years.
[Penal Code Section 186.22(b) (1) (A) to (C).]
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5)Provides any person who is convicted of a felony enumerated in
this paragraph committed for the benefit of, at the direction
of, or in association with any criminal street gang, with the
specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal
conduct by gang members, shall, upon conviction of that
felony, be sentenced to an indeterminate term of life
imprisonment with a minimum term of the indeterminate sentence
calculated as the greater of:
a) The term determined by the court pursuant to current
determinate sentencing law for the underlying conviction,
including any enhancements.
b) Imprisonment in the state prison for 15 years if the
felony is a home invasion robbery, carjacking, or other
related offenses, as specified.
c) Imprisonment in the state prison for seven years if the
felony is extortion or threats to victims and witnesses.
[Penal Code Section 186.22(b)(4)(A) to (C).]
6)States any person who solicits or recruits another to actively
participate in a criminal street gang, as defined in existing
law, with the intent that the person solicited or recruited
participate in a pattern of criminal street gang activity, as
specified, or with the intent that the person solicited or
recruited promote, further, or assist in any felonious conduct
by members of the criminal street gang, shall be punished by
imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or two or
three years. [Penal Code Section 186.26(a).]
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "Pimping,
pandering and human trafficking activities are increasing at
an alarming rate. Recently, several new hybrid gangs have
evolved in San Diego County solely for the purpose and profit
of pimping. Documented criminal street gangs who have
historically been at odds with one another are working side by
side due to the large income potential associated with
pimping. A 2011 bulletin from the California Emergency
Management Agency's Safe Threat Assessment Center entitled
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'California Gang Involvement in Domestic Human Trafficking and
Sexual Exploitation' states that they 'are participating in
human trafficking and sexual exploitation, in part because
these crimes are considered lower risk and do not carry the
harsher sentences typically associated with gang related
crimes.' "
"Although pimping and pandering currently carry mandatory prison
sentences, there is no provision in the State penal code that
provides enhanced penalties for a criminal street gang
connection which would address the new hybrid gangs. The
definition of a criminal street gang triggers enhanced
penalties, bolsters parole and probation conditions, augments
law enforcement tools, and affects the way a case is handled
by all stakeholders in the system.
SB 473 adds pimping, pandering, and human trafficking to the
list of offenses that may be used to establish a pattern of
criminal activity for the purpose of enhancing the sentence of
any person who commits a crime for the benefit of a criminal
street gang."
2)Argument in Support : The County of San Diego (the sponsor of
this bill) states, "Untold numbers of children fall victim to
predatory adults, many of whom have ties to criminal street
gangs. Several gangs in San Diego have evolved solely for
the purpose and profit of pimping, and a growing number of
gangs participate in human trafficking. Although pimping and
pandering currently carry mandatory prison sentences, there is
no provision in the Penal Code that establishes these
activities as part of a criminal street enterprise.
"Criminal street gangs have embraced human trafficking as a
lucrative revenue source; sex trafficking now rivals narcotic
sales as the major source of revenue for many gangs. The
Counties of San Diego, Alameda, and Los Angles are sponsoring
SB 473 in order to add pimping related crimes to the legal
definition of a street gang."
3)Argument in Opposition : The California Attorneys for Criminal
Justice state, "We believe the proposed legislation
unjustifiably expands the scope of gang related criminal
activity without sufficient and correlated cause, and seeks to
encompass conduct outside the scope of the original
legislative intent. We also believe the additional three-year
enhancement for human trafficking is excessive and duplicative
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of enhancements already imposed by the Penal Code.
"As codified in Penal Code Section 186.21, the existing law was
intended to prevent 'criminal activity by street gangs by
focusing upon patterns of criminal gang activity.' Proposed
SB 473 appears to be based on a need to deal with criminal
gang sex-trafficking as a result of the Department of State's
Trafficking in Persons Report 2010 ('Report'). However, the
Report did not blame the volume of human trafficking in the
United States on criminal street gangs as one of the
contributing factors, let alone finding for a pattern of
criminal activity. And while the Report discussed occasions
of human trafficking for sex, it concluded that "[t]rafficking
occurs primarily for labor and most commonly in domestic
servitude,' observing only a small number of the human
trafficking to be for sex.
"Notably, the Report did not find any form of a relationship
between sexual trafficking and criminal gang affiliations to
justify proposed SB 473 and its severe and unrelated
enhancements."
4)Prior Legislation : AB 918 (Block), of the 2011-12
Legislative Session, was identical to this bill. AB 918 was
held on the Assembly Appropriations Committee's Suspense File.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Alameda County District Attorney
Association of Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriffs
California Alliance of Child and Family Services
California District Attorneys Association
California Narcotics Officers' Association
California Probation, Parole and Correctional Association
California State Sheriffs' Association
Child Abuse Prevention Center
Concerned Women for America of California
County of Alameda
County of Los Angeles
County of San Bernardino
County of San Diego
Crime Victims United of California
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Junior league of Orange County
Junior League of San Diego
Junior Leagues of California, State Public Affairs Committee
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Los Angeles County Probation Officers Union
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
North County Lifeline
Riverside Sheriffs' Association
San Diego County District Attorney
San Diego County Sheriff's Department
Urban Counties Caucus
Opposition
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
Taxpayers for Improving Public safety
Analysis Prepared by : Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744