Title PEN, California Penal Code

(a) A person who knowingly allows the use of or who uses the 911 emergency system for any reason other than because of an emergency is guilty of an infraction, punishable as follows: (1) For a first violation, a written warning shall be issued to the violator by the public safety…

(a) Every person who operates a recording device in a motion picture theater while a motion picture is being exhibited, for the purpose of recording a theatrical motion picture and without the express written authority of the owner of the motion picture theater, is guilty of a pu…

Public offenses may be prevented by the intervention of the officers of justice: 1. By requiring security to keep the peace; 2. By forming a police in cities and towns, and by requiring their attendance in exposed places; 3. By suppressing riots. (Enacted 1872.)

When the officers of justice are authorized to act in the prevention of public offenses, other persons, who, by their command, act in their aid, are justified in so doing. (Enacted 1872.)

(a) A law enforcement employee who believes that he or she came into contact with bodily fluids of either an inmate of a correctional institution, a person not in a correctional institution who has been arrested or taken into custody whether or not the person has been charged wit…

(a) The chief medical officer shall, regardless of whether a report filed pursuant to Section 7510 contains a request for HIV or hepatitis B or C testing, decide whether or not to require HIV or hepatitis B or C testing of the inmate or other person who is the subject of the repo…

(a) An inmate of a correctional institution may request testing for HIV or hepatitis B or C of another inmate of that institution if he or she has reason to believe that he or she has come into contact with the bodily fluids of that inmate, in situations, which may include, but a…

In the absence of the filing of a report pursuant to Section 7510 or a request pursuant to Section 7512, the chief medical officer may order a test of an inmate if he or she concludes there are clinical symptoms of HIV infection, AIDS, or hepatitis B or C, as recognized by the fe…

An inmate who is the subject of an HIV or hepatitis B or C test report filed pursuant to Section 7510 or an HIV or hepatitis B or C test report filed pursuant to Section 7512 shall receive, in conjunction with the decision of the chief medical officer to order a test, a copy of t…

(a) It shall be the chief medical officer’s responsibility to see that personal counseling is provided to a law enforcement employee filing a report pursuant to Section 7510, an inmate filing a request pursuant to Section 7512, and any potential test subject, at the time the init…

(a) A decision of the chief medical officer made pursuant to Section 7511, 7512, or 7516 may be appealed, within three calendar days of receipt of the decision, to a three-person panel, either by the person required to be tested, his or her parent or guardian when the subject is …

(a) When a custodial officer or staff person of a correctional institution, observes or is informed of activity in a correctional institution that is classified as causing, or known to cause, the transmission of the AIDS virus, as described in subdivision (b), he or she may file …

Any decision by a panel pursuant to Section 7515 or 7516 may be appealed to the superior court, either by a law enforcement employee filing a report pursuant to Section 7510, a person requesting an HIV test pursuant to Section 7512, a medical officer convening a panel pursuant to…

It shall be the responsibility of the chief medical officer to see that copies of the hearing decision are distributed in accordance with requirements of this chapter. (Added by Stats. 1988, Ch. 1579, Sec. 2. Effective September 30, 1988.)

Except as otherwise permitted by this title or any provision of law, any records, including decisions of a chief medical officer or an appeals panel, compiled pursuant to this chapter shall be confidential. (Added by Stats. 1988, Ch. 1579, Sec. 2. Effective September 30, 1988.)

(a) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and local health officers shall adopt guidelines for the making of decisions pursuant to this chapter in consultation with the Office of AIDS in the State Department of Health Services for HIV testing and with the State Departm…

(a) When an individual, including a minor charged with an offense for which he or she may be made a ward of the court under Section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, has either been charged with a crime, but is not being held in a correctional institution due to his or he…

(a) Prosecution for an offense punishable by death or by imprisonment in the state prison for life or for life without the possibility of parole, or for the embezzlement of public money, may be commenced at any time. (b) (1) Prosecution for a felony offense described in paragraph…

Except as provided in Section 799, prosecution for an offense punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for eight years or more or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for eight years or more shall be commenced within six years after commission of the …

Except as provided in Sections 799 and 800, prosecution for an offense punishable by imprisonment in the state prison or pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 shall be commenced within three years after commission of the offense. (Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 15, Sec. 446. (…

(a) (1) Notwithstanding any other limitation of time described in this chapter, prosecution for a felony offense described in Section 261, 286, 287, 288, 288.5, or 289, or former Section 288a, or Section 289.5, as enacted by Chapter 293 of the Statutes of 1991 relating to penetra…

Notwithstanding any other limitation of time prescribed in this chapter, prosecution for a violation of subdivision (b) of Section 311.4 shall commence within 10 years of the date of production of the pornographic material. (Added by Stats. 2006, Ch. 337, Sec. 35. Effective Septe…

Notwithstanding Section 801 or any other provision of law, prosecution for any offense described in subdivision (c) of Section 803 shall be commenced within four years after discovery of the commission of the offense, or within four years after the completion of the offense, whic…

Notwithstanding any other limitation of time described in this chapter, prosecution for any offense proscribed by Section 368, except for a violation of any provision of law proscribing theft or embezzlement, may be filed at any time within five years from the date of occurrence …

(a) Notwithstanding Section 801 or any other law, prosecution for a felony offense described in Section 502 shall be commenced within three years after discovery of the commission of the offense, or within three years after the offense could have reasonably been discovered, provi…

(a) Notwithstanding any other limitation of time described in this chapter, prosecution for the failure of a mandated reporter to report an incident under Section 11166 known or reasonably suspected by the mandated reporter to be sexual assault as defined in Section 11165.1, may …

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), (c), (d), or (e), prosecution for an offense not punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison or pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 shall be commenced within one year after commission of the offense. (b) Prosecution f…

Notwithstanding Section 802 or any other provision of law, prosecution for the offense described in Section 18897.93 of the Business and Professions Code shall be commenced within three years after discovery of the commission of the offense. (Added by Stats. 2011, Ch. 146, Sec. 2…

(a) Except as provided in this section, a limitation of time prescribed in this chapter is not tolled or extended for any reason. (b) The time during which prosecution of the same person for the same conduct is pending in a court of this state is not a part of a limitation of tim…

With respect to a violation of Section 115 or 530.5, a limitation of time prescribed in this chapter does not commence to run until the discovery of the offense. (Added by Stats. 2003, Ch. 468, Sec. 10.5. Effective January 1, 2004.)

(a) If more than one time period described in this chapter applies, the time for commencing an action shall be governed by that period that expires the latest in time. (b) Any change in the time period for the commencement of prosecution described in this chapter applies to any c…

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, prosecution for a violation of Section 273.5 may be commenced within seven years of the crime. (b) This section applies to crimes that are committed on or after January 1, 2025, and to crimes for which the statute of limitations that was in effe…

Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, for the purpose of this chapter, prosecution for an offense is commenced when any of the following occurs: (a) An indictment or information is filed. (b) A complaint is filed charging a misdemeanor or infraction. (c) The defendant is …

For the purpose of determining the applicable limitation of time pursuant to this chapter: (a) An offense is deemed punishable by the maximum punishment prescribed by statute for the offense, regardless of the punishment actually sought or imposed. Any enhancement of punishment p…

All the forms of pleading in criminal actions, and the rules by which the sufficiency of pleadings is to be determined, are those prescribed by this Code. (Enacted 1872.)

The first pleading on the part of the people in the superior court in a felony case is the indictment, information, or the complaint in any case certified to the superior court under Section 859a. The first pleading on the part of the people in a misdemeanor or infraction case is…

The accusatory pleading must contain: 1. The title of the action, specifying the name of the court to which the same is presented, and the names of the parties; 2. A statement of the public offense or offenses charged therein. (Amended by Stats. 1951, Ch. 1674.)

An indictment or information may be in substantially the following form: The people of the State of California against A. B. In the superior court of the State of California, in and for the county of ____. The grand jury (or the district attorney) of the county of ____ hereby acc…

In charging an offense, each count shall contain, and shall be sufficient if it contains in substance, a statement that the accused has committed some public offense therein specified. Such statement may be made in ordinary and concise language without any technical averments or …

When a defendant is charged by a fictitious or erroneous name, and in any stage of the proceedings his true name is discovered, it must be inserted in the subsequent proceedings, referring to the fact of his being charged by the name mentioned in the accusatory pleading. (Amended…

An accusatory pleading may charge two or more different offenses connected together in their commission, or different statements of the same offense or two or more different offenses of the same class of crimes or offenses, under separate counts, and if two or more accusatory ple…

In cases in which two or more different offenses of the same class of crimes or offenses have been charged together in the same accusatory pleading, or where two or more accusatory pleadings charging offenses of the same class of crimes or offenses have been consolidated, evidenc…

The precise time at which the offense was committed need not be stated in the accusatory pleading, but it may be alleged to have been committed at any time before the finding or filing thereof, except where the time is a material ingredient in the offense. (Amended by Stats. 1951…

When an offense involves the commission of, or an attempt to commit a private injury, and is described with sufficient certainty in other respects to identify the act, an erroneous allegation as to the person injured, or intended to be injured, or of the place where the offense w…

The words used in an accusatory pleading are construed in their usual acceptance in common language, except such words and phrases as are defined by law, which are construed according to their legal meaning. (Amended by Stats. 1951, Ch. 1674.)

Words used in a statute to define a public offense need not be strictly pursued in the accusatory pleading, but other words conveying the same meaning may be used. (Amended by Stats. 1951, Ch. 1674.)