BlackletterCalifornia law

Penal Code § 1170.8

ARTICLE 1. Initial Sentencing

Current as of September 28, 2026Pen. Code, § 1170.8Official source ↗

Added by Stats. 1982, Ch. 929, Sec. 1.

(a) The fact that a robbery or an assault with a deadly weapon or instrument or by means of any force likely to produce great bodily injury was committed against a person while that person was in a church, synagogue, or building owned and occupied by a religious educational institution, or any other place primarily used as a place of worship where religious services are regularly conducted, shall be considered a circumstance in aggravation of the crime in imposing a term under subdivision (b) of Section 1170.

(b) Upon conviction of any person for a violation of Section 451 or 453, the fact that the person intentionally burned, or intended to burn, a church, synagogue, or building owned and occupied by a religious educational institution, or any other place primarily used as a place of worship where religious services are regularly conducted, shall be considered a circumstance in aggravation of the crime in imposing a term under subdivision (b) of Section 1170.