Crimes: torture of a minor: parole.

Assembly Member Bains, with coauthor Assembly Member Alanis, frames a narrowly targeted amendment to torture law that changes the timing of parole eligibility for a specific group of offenders, extending the minimum period before release to ten years for adults who tortured a minor under their care or custody when the victim was 14 or younger, for offenses occurring on or after January 1, 2026, while the baseline penalty of life imprisonment remains unchanged.

Under the measure, the existing framework keeps torture punishable by life, and the general parole bar remains at seven years for those not meeting the new criteria. The new provision adds a separate eligibility rule applicable only to crimes committed after the 2026 date: if the offender is an adult who had care or custody of a victim aged 14 or younger at the time, parole eligibility is postponed to at least ten years. The change is prospective and does not apply to offenses committed before 2026; the older seven-year rule continues to govern those cases. The measure characterizes the modification as a new sentencing enhancement linked to the parole timeline and includes a standard no-reimbursement statement for local agencies.

Implementation would flow through the existing parole process, with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Board of Parole Hearings applying the new standard when relevant. Ambiguities identified in the bill’s text include how “care or custody” is defined for purposes of eligibility, whether the age reference pertains strictly to the crime’s timing, and how the rule would operate in cases involving multiple victims or counts. The bill’s fiscal language notes no state reimbursement, though the accompanying digest suggests it may constitute a state-mandated local program. The provision thus affects only offenses after the effective date, with no retroactive impact on past torturers, and it preserves the broader framework for life imprisonment and the seven-year baseline parole period for other torturers.