BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 962 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 22, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 962 (Maienschein) - As Introduced February 26, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy | Public Safety |Vote:| 7 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill adds the crimes of rape, sexual penetration, sodomy, and oral copulation committed against a person who is incapable of giving legal consent due to a mental disorder or AB 962 Page 2 developmental or physical disability to the list of offenses which qualify for (a) application of the "One Strike Sex Law," and (b) vulnerable-victim enhancement. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the California Department of Corrections (CDCR), the contracted out-of-state bed rate is $29,000. Approximately 30 individuals are admitted under the targeted sex crimes annually. If 10 percent were targeted for the specified victims, the additional costs to CDCR for the enhancements would be $87,000 (GF) the first additional year, $174,000 (GF) the second year, etc. for each additional year added to the original sentence. COMMENTS: 1)Background. The One Strike Sex Crime Law is a separate sentencing scheme which was enacted to provide life sentences for certain aggravated sex offenders, even if they do not have prior convictions. Under this scheme, a first-time offender who commits a qualifying sex offense under one or more of the circumstances listed in the statute is subject to a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life or 25 years to life. The facts that bring a defendant within the provisions of the One Strike Law are grouped into two categories. If a defendant commits a qualifying crime under one circumstance listed, then he or she will receive a sentence of 15 years to life. If a defendant commits a qualifying crime under one or more circumstances listed under a second category, or two or more circumstances listed under the first category, then he or she will receive a sentence of 25 years to life. The distinction is that the aggravating circumstances listed in the second category are more severe than those listed in first category. AB 962 Page 3 Current law provides various sentencing enhancements if a person commits specific sex crimes against a victim who is incapable of giving legal consent due to a mental disorder or developmental or physical disability, or meets specific age criteria. 2)Purpose. According to the author, "Under AB 962, the scope of existing penalty enhancements [in current law] will be expanded, thus allowing prosecutors to obtain higher penalties when sex crimes are committed against vulnerable individuals specifically where it is difficult or impossible to prove force was used due to the nature of the victim's disability. In the recent California example, this was imperative as the victim's disability makes her incapable of speech or movement." "Additionally, AB 962 will expand One Strike base crime offenses to include sex crimes involving a victim who is incapable of giving consent due to a disability when performed in conjunction with other aggravating circumstances, such as kidnapping, restraining or use of a deadly weapon." "All victims deserve equal protection under the law. AB 962 will allow for more equitable punishment for those who commit heinous crimes against victims who do not have the ability to protect themselves." This bill adds crimes to the list of offenses which can be prosecuted under the One Strike Law. The additional aggravating circumstances must still be pled and proven to a jury. 1)Argument in Support: According to the Arc and United Cerebral Palsy California Collaboration, "Sexual assault of people with developmental disabilities can legitimately be called an epidemic. Your bill will increase penalties for the AB 962 Page 4 relatively few persons who the criminal justice system is able to convict of this vile crime, keeping them in prison and preventing their predation of non-incarcerated persons [with] developmental disabilities for longer periods of time." 4)Argument in Opposition: The California Public Defenders Association writes, "This legislation is not needed and is redundant because someone who in the course of committing a sexual assault kidnaps the victim, commits a burglary, uses a weapon, inflicts great bodily injury, or ties the victim up or has a prior sexual assault is already subject to the enhanced punishment provisions, 15 or 25 years to life, of Penal Code Section 667.61. What this legislation does is add merely the status of the disability of the victim." 5)Related Legislation: a) AB 1272 (Grove) authorizes a judicial officer to issue an ex parte emergency protective order when an officer has reason to believe that a developmentally-disabled person is in immediate danger of sexual exploitation by a developmental disability residential service provider. AB 1272 is pending in Assembly Judiciary. b) SB 164 (Beall) provides that where a defendant has been convicted of a One-Strike qualifying crime in two separate cases, he or she is subject to a life term under the law regardless of the order of the convictions. SB 164 is pending Senate Appropriations. 6)Prior Legislation: a) AB 1335 (Maienschein), of the 2013-2014 Legislative Session, a substantially similar bill was held on the Senate Appropriations Committee suspense file. b) AB 313 (Zettel), Chapter 569, Statutes of 1999, added deaf and developmentally disabled persons as qualifying victims to the existing enhancement statute for serious AB 962 Page 5 crimes committed against the elderly, children under age 14, and persons who are either blind, a paraplegic, or quadriplegic. c) SBx1 26 (Bergeson), Chapter 14, Statutes of 1994, codified the One-Strike Sex Law. Analysis Prepared by:Pedro R. Reyes / APPR. / (916) 319-2081