BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1872
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1872 (Cohn)
As Amended March 28, 2006
Majority vote
PUBLIC SAFETY 5-0 APPROPRIATIONS
(vote not
available)
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|Ayes:|Leno, La Suer, Cohn, | | |
| |Goldberg, Spitzer | | |
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| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Provides any person that in the commission or
attempted commission of any felony who personally inflicts great
bodily injury (GBI) upon a pregnant woman, or inflicts any
injury upon a pregnant woman that results in termination of the
pregnancy shall be punished by an additional and consecutive
five years in the state prison. Specifically, this bill :
1)Creates a five-year enhancement if injury inflicted upon a
pregnant person results in the termination of the pregnancy.
2)Eliminates the existing requirement that GBI inflicted upon a
pregnant person result in termination of the pregnancy in
order for the enhancement to apply.
3)Deletes the existing requirement that a person who personally
inflicts GBI upon a pregnant person intend to inflict the
injury.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that any person who during the commission, or
attempted commission, of a felony knows, or reasonably should
know, that the victim is pregnant and who, with the intent to
inflict injury and without consent of the woman, personally
inflicts GBI upon a pregnant woman which results in the
termination of that pregnancy shall be punished by an
additional and consecutive five years in the state prison.
2)Provides that any person who personally inflicts GBI on any
person other than an accomplice in the commission or attempted
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commission of a felony shall be punished by an additional and
consecutive three years in the state prison.
3)Provides that any person who personally inflicts GBI on a
person 70 years of age or older shall, in addition and
consecutive to the punishment for the felony which he or she
has been convicted of, be punished by an additional five years
in state prison.
4)Provides that any person who personally inflicts GBI on a
child under the age of five years shall, in addition and
consecutive to the punishment for the felony which he or she
has been convicted of, be punished by an additional four,
five, or six years in state prison.
5)Provides that any person who inflicts GBI under circumstances
involving domestic violence in the commission or attempted
commission of a felony shall be punished by an additional and
consecutive term of three, four, or five years in the state
prison.
6)Provides that any person who inflicts GBI on any person in the
commission or attempted commission of a rape, spousal rape,
rape in concert, lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the
age of 14, forcible sexual penetration, forcible oral
copulation, or forcible sodomy shall receive an additional
five years in the state prison.
7)Provides that any person who personally inflicts GBI on any
person in the commission or attempted commission of a felony
which causes a person to become comatose due to a brain injury
or to suffer paralysis of a permanent nature shall be punished
by an additional and consecutive five-year term in the state
prison.
8)Prohibits the granting of probation to any person who
personally inflicts GBI on any person 60 years of age or older
or a blind or disabled person in the commission of a specified
felony.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, unknown moderate annual General Fund costs, likely in
excess of $150,000, to the extent the expanded enhancement
results in longer prison terms. In 2004-05, two persons
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received the enhancement for inflicting GBI that resulted in a
terminated pregnancy. If this bill results in five additional
persons receiving a 5-year enhancement, the annual General Fund
cost would be about $300,000 in the out years.
COMMENTS : According to the author "Domestic abuse against
pregnant women has immediate and lasting effects women and their
pregnancies. In addition, homicide is the second leading cause
of traumatic death for pregnant and post-partum women in the
United States. Each year, 324,000 pregnant women in this
country are battered by their intimate partners.
"Current law only allows for a five-year enhancement if the
infliction of great bodily injury results in a termination of a
pregnancy. Given the massive amount of violence committed
against pregnant women and the impact on the women and their
pregnancies additional punishment should be meted out any time
GBI is inflicted on a pregnant woman regardless of whether or
not it causes termination of the pregnancy. However if any
injury, regardless of the severity, is inflicted upon a pregnant
person, and that results in termination of a pregnancy there
should also be a five-year sentence enhancement."
Please see the policy committee analysis for full discussion of
this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744
FN: 0014701