rightly assume that all felonies are "serious" because, in a realistic sense, felonies define conduct that causes significant damage, threat of injury, injury or other serious social evil. The reality is the term has a specific legal meaning.

Serious and violent felonies are a special category of crimes defined by Penal Code sections 667.5 and 1192.7. These are specified felonies that the California Legislature or the public through proposition/initiative has concluded are special threats to society that make them more dangerous than other felonies. Felonies that are specified in section 667.5 are defined as "violent felonies." This does not mean they are the only felonies that involve violence against human beings. It means that they are the most grave of those felonies where violence is used. A person who has been convicted in the past of a "violent felony" and who commits a new felony offense must receive an additional 3-year term because of his/her prior record. These "violent felonies" are: murder or voluntary manslaughter, mayhem, rape, sodomy by force or fear, oral copulation by force or fear, lewd acts on a child under 14, any felony punishable by death or life imprisonment, any felony in which the defendant has inflicted great bodily injury on a person, any felony in which the person has used a firearm, any robbery committed in an inhabited dwelling house, arson, violation of Penal Code section 289, attempted murder, exploding a bomb, kidnapping, kidnapping a child under 14, continuous sexual abuse of a child in violation of 288.5, carjacking, robbery in violation of 213, rape with a foreign object. The legislature specifically provided that, "The Legislature finds and declares that these specified crimes merit special consideration when imposing a sentence to display society's condemnation for these extraordinary crimes of violence against the person." (Pen. Code, � 667.5, subd. (b).

Penal Code section 1192.7 specifically provides that a certain category of designated crimes shall be specified as "serious felonies" and plea bargaining of them is prohibited except under very restricted circumstances. These crimes are: Murder or voluntary manslaughter, mayhem, rape, sodomy by force, oral copulation by force, lewd

Next Page
or go to... 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20
21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39
40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48