BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 813 (Leyva) - Sex offenses: statute of limitations
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|Version: March 31, 2016 |Policy Vote: PUB. S. 5 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: April 25, 2016 |Consultant: Jolie Onodera |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: SB 813 would eliminate any statute of limitations for
specified felony sex offenses, as specified.
Fiscal
Impact:
New prison commitments : Potentially significant increase in
ongoing state costs (General Fund), cumulatively increasing in
future years, for new commitments to state prison that
otherwise would have been time-barred under the applicable
statute of limitations. Data from CDCR indicates over 4,300
commitments to state prison in 2015 for the specified sex
crimes as a principal or subordinate offense. To the extent
prison commitments increase by even one-quarter of one percent
(10 individuals) in any one year would increase costs by
$300,000 for one year. Given the average length of stay in
excess of 10 years for many of these offenses, the cumulative
cost of 10 new commitments annually would be $13 million after
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10 years.
Increase to parole and/or contracted bed space : Additionally,
in order to maintain compliance with the federal court-ordered
prison population cap, the CDCR could be required to release
more inmates onto parole, resulting in increased costs for
parole supervision (General Fund), or alternatively, contract
for additional bed space with local or private entities.
Courts : Potential near-term and ongoing increase in state
court costs (General Fund*) for additional criminal actions
initiated for cases that otherwise would have been
disqualified under the existing applicable statute of
limitations. A potential increase in the number of petitions
filed for writ of habeas corpus could potentially result from
new convictions for cases that otherwise would have been
time-barred from prosecution.
*Trial Court Trust Fund
Background: Existing law provides for the following four statutory
timeframes within which commencement of prosecution for felony
sex offenses is authorized:
1) The general limitations period for prosecuting sex
offenses subject to mandatory sex offender registration is
within 10 years after commission of the offense. (Penal
Code (PC) § 801.1(b).)
2) If the sex offense is alleged to have been committed
against a person when that person was under the age of 18,
prosecution may commence any time up to the victim's 40th
birthday. (PC § 801.1(a).).
3) In circumstances when the 10-year limitations period has
expired, a criminal complaint may be filed within one year
of the date a person of any age reports to law enforcement
that they were a victim of a child sex crime, if the
offense involved "substantial sexual conduct", as
specified, and there is independent evidence that
corroborates the victim's allegation, which must be proved
by clear and convincing evidence if the victim is 21 years
of age or older at the time of the report. (PC § 803(f).)
4) Notwithstanding any other time limitation, a criminal
complaint may be filed within one year of the date on which
the identity of a suspect is conclusively established by
DNA testing in sex offense cases if the DNA is analyzed in
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a timely manner, as specified. (PC § 803(g).)
Proposed Law:
This bill would amend subdivision (b) of PC § 799 to provide
that the prosecution for the following felony sex offenses may
be commenced at any time:
Rape: PC § 261 (a), paragraph (1), (2), (3), (4), (6)
or (7).
Spousal rape: PC § 262 (a), paragraph (1), (2), (3),
(4), or (5).
In concert rape, spousal rape or forcible sexual
penetration: PC § 264.1.
Forcible sodomy: PC § 286 (c), paragraph (2) or (3), or
PC § 286 (d), (f), (g), (i), or (k).
Molestation of a child under the age of 14 involving
"substantial sexual conduct": PC § 288(a), as defined in
PC § 1203.066(b).
Molestation of a child under the age of 14 by use of
force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and
unlawful bodily injury on the victim or another person: PC
§ 288(b).
Continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14:
PC § 288.5.
Forcible oral copulation: PC § 288a(c), paragraph (2)
or (3), or PC § 288a (d), (f), (g), (i), or (k).
Forcible sexual penetration: PC § 289, (a), (b), (d),
(e), or (g).
This bill provides that its provisions would apply to offenses
that were committed on or after January 1, 2017, and to offenses
for which the statute of limitations that was in effect prior to
January 1, 2017, has not run as of January 1, 2017.
This bill additionally makes technical conforming amendments to
related statutes.
Prior
Legislation: SB 926 (Beall) Chapter 921/2014 extended the
statute of limitations for the commencement of prosecution for
specified felony sex offenses against a victim under the age of
18, from any time prior to the victim's 28th birthday to any
time prior to the victim's 40th birthday.
SB 46 (Alquist) 2009 would have eliminated the statute of
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limitations for specified sex offenses committed against a
victim who was under the age of 14 at the time of the offense.
This bill failed passage in the Senate Committee on Public
Safety.
SB 256 (Alquist) 2008 would have eliminated the statute of
limitations for sex offenses requiring registration as a sex
offender, allowing prosecution for these offenses at any time.
This bill failed passage in the Senate Committee on Public
Safety.
SB 1128 (Alquist) Chapter 337/2006 enacted the "Sex Offender
Punishment, Control, and Containment Act of 2006," which, among
its numerous provisions, increased the penalties for specified
sex offenses.
SB 111 (Alquist) Chapter 479/2005 extended the statute of
limitations for commencing prosecution for a felony sex offense
against a child under 18 to any time prior to the victim's 28th
birthday, as specified.
SB 261 (Speier) 2005 would have eliminated the statute of
limitations for specified sex offenses. This bill was held on
the Suspense File of this Committee.
Staff
Comments: By eliminating the statute of limitations for the
prosecution of felony sex offenses, this bill could result in
additional prosecutions that otherwise would not have occurred
in the absence of this measure, subsequently resulting in new
convictions and commitments to state prison. The fiscal impact
of this bill cannot be known with certainty, as the actual
impact will be dependent on numerous factors including but not
limited to judicial and prosecutorial discretion and the factors
unique to each case.
Arrest data from the Department of Justice (DOJ) indicates over
12,600 arrests annually under the felony sex offenses specified,
with about 4,550 annual arrests (36 percent) leading to
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convictions. It is unknown what percentage of annual arrests may
have been time-barred from prosecution under existing law or how
many new arrests would occur due to the removal of the statute
of limitations, but to the extent additional prosecutions could
proceed, additional workload and costs would be imposed on the
courts.
The prison term triads for the specified sex offenses vary and
include ranges such as 9, 11, or 13 years for any person who
commits rape or sodomy upon a child under 14 years of age, to up
to 16 years for continuous sexual abuse of a child under PC §
288.5. The magnitude of new costs for commitments to state
prison would be dependent on the underlying offenses and the
sentencing terms attached to those offenses. While costs in any
one year may not be significant, the cumulative effect over time
of overlapping sentences could be substantial. Commitment data
from CDCR reflects over 4,300 commitments to state prison in
2015 under the offenses specified in this measure as the
principal or subordinate offense. Additionally, data from CDCR
indicates the average length of stay for commitments to prison
under many of the specified Penal Code sections exceeds 10
years.
The Three-Judge Court has ordered the State to reduce its prison
population to 137.5 percent of the prison system's design
capacity by February 28, 2016. Pursuant to its February 10, 2014
order, the Court has ordered the CDCR to implement several
population reduction measures, prohibited an increase in the
population of inmates housed in out-of-state facilities, and
indicated the Court will maintain jurisdiction over the State
for as long as necessary to ensure that the State's compliance
with the 137.5 percent final benchmark is durable, and that such
durability is firmly established. Any future increases to the
State's prison population could challenge the ability of the
State to reach and maintain such a "durable solution," and could
require the State to pursue one of several options, including
contracting-out for additional bed space or releasing current
inmates early onto parole.
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