PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS
Preliminary Provisions enacted 1872.
§§ 2–24 · 33 sections
- § 2 This Code takes effect at twelve o'clock, noon, on the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy-three.
- § 3 No part of it is retroactive, unless expressly so declared.
- § 4 The rule of the common law, that penal statutes are to be strictly construed, has no application to this Code. All its provisions are to be construed according…
- § 5 The provisions of this Code, so far as they are substantially the same as existing statutes, must be construed as continuations thereof, and not as new…
- § 6 No act or omission, commenced after twelve o'clock noon of the day on which this Code takes effect as a law, is criminal or punishable, except as prescribed or…
- § 7 (a) Words used in this code in the present tense include the future as well as the present. Words used in the masculine gender include the feminine and neuter.…
- § 7.5 Whenever any offense is described in this code, the Uniform Controlled Substances Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 11000) of the Health and Safety…
- § 8 Whenever, by any of the provisions of this Code, an intent to defraud is required in order to constitute any offense, it is sufficient if an intent appears to…
- § 9 The omission to specify or affirm in this Code any liability to damages, penalty, forfeiture, or other remedy imposed by law and allowed to be recovered or…
- § 10 The omission to specify or affirm in this Code any ground of forfeiture of a public office, or other trust or special authority conferred by law, or any power…
- § 11 This code does not affect any power conferred by law upon any court-martial, or other military authority or officer, to impose or inflict punishment upon…
- § 12 The several sections of this Code which declare certain crimes to be punishable as therein mentioned, devolve a duty upon the Court authorized to pass…
- § 13 Whenever in this Code the punishment for a crime is left undetermined between certain limits, the punishment to be inflicted in a particular case must be…
- § 14 The various sections of this Code which declare that evidence obtained upon the examination of a person as a witness cannot be received against him in any…
- § 15 A crime or public offense is an act committed or omitted in violation of a law forbidding or commanding it, and to which is annexed, upon conviction, either of…
- § 16 Crimes and public offenses include: 1. Felonies; 2. Misdemeanors; and 3. Infractions.
- § 17 (a) A felony is a crime that is punishable with death, by imprisonment in the state prison, or, notwithstanding any other law, by imprisonment in a county jail…
- § 17.2 (a) It is the intent of the Legislature that the disposition of any criminal case use the least restrictive means available. (b) The court presiding over a…
- § 17.5 (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (1) The Legislature reaffirms its commitment to reducing recidivism among criminal offenders. (2)…
- § 17.7 The Legislature finds and declares the following: (a) Strategies supporting reentering offenders through practices and programs, such as standardized risk and…
- § 18 (a) Except in cases where a different punishment is prescribed by any law of this state, every offense declared to be a felony is punishable by imprisonment…
- § 18.5 (a) Every offense which is prescribed by any law of the state to be punishable by imprisonment in a county jail up to or not exceeding one year shall be…
- § 19 Except in cases where a different punishment is prescribed by any law of this state, every offense declared to be a misdemeanor is punishable by imprisonment…
- § 19.2 In no case shall any person sentenced to confinement in a county or city jail, or in a county or joint county penal farm, road camp, work camp, or other county…
- § 19.4 When an act or omission is declared by a statute to be a public offense and no penalty for the offense is prescribed in any statute, the act or omission is…
- § 19.6 An infraction is not punishable by imprisonment. A person charged with an infraction shall not be entitled to a trial by jury. A person charged with an…
- § 19.7 Except as otherwise provided by law, all provisions of law relating to misdemeanors shall apply to infractions including, but not limited to, powers of peace…
- § 19.8 (a) (1) The following offenses are subject to subdivision (d) of Section 17: (A) Sections 193.8, 330, 415, 485, 490.7, 555, 602.13, and 853.7. (B) Subdivision…
- § 19.9 For purposes of this code, “mandatory supervision” shall mean the portion of a defendant’s sentenced term during which time he or she is supervised by the…
- § 20 In every crime or public offense there must exist a union, or joint operation of act and intent, or criminal negligence.
- § 21a An attempt to commit a crime consists of two elements: a specific intent to commit the crime, and a direct but ineffectual act done toward its commission.
- § 23 In any criminal proceeding against a person who has been issued a license to engage in a business or profession by a state agency pursuant to provisions of the…
- § 24 This Act, whenever cited, enumerated, referred to, or amended, may be designated simply as The Penal Code, adding, when necessary, the number of the section.