Crimes: criminal threats.

Assembly Member Pacheco's legislation expands California's criminal sentencing guidelines by allowing courts to consider threats against state officials as an aggravating factor during felony sentencing. The measure amends the state's criminal threats statute, which currently penalizes credible threats of death or great bodily injury that cause sustained fear, regardless of intent to carry them out.

Under the proposed changes, judges weighing sentences for felony criminal threats may factor in whether defendants knowingly threatened state constitutional officers, legislators, judges, or court commissioners. The existing punishment framework remains unchanged, allowing for either county jail time up to one year or state prison terms. The bill maintains current definitions of immediate family members and electronic communications while preserving the core elements required to prove criminal threats - that they be unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific enough to convey genuine intent and cause reasonable fear.

The measure operates within California's established criminal justice system, utilizing existing court procedures and judicial discretion during the sentencing phase. It requires no additional funding appropriations and creates no new programs or administrative structures for implementation.