Opinion ID: 1267798
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Comparison With Other California Provisions

Text: We note at the outset our determination in Foss that in light of the assumption underlying this test, which we earlier set forth, the periods of mandatory parole ineligibility imposed for repeated violations of other narcotics offense provisions of the Health and Safety Code cannot ... be taken as illustrative of the permissible degrees of severity under article I, section [17] of our Constitution. ( Id., at p. 927.) We reached this conclusion in Foss because the aforementioned mandatory prison terms prior to parole for recidivist narcotics offenders are products of the same `honest zeal' ... generated in response to transitory public emotion, and thus are similarly tainted. ( Id., at p. 927.) (6) Applying the second technique described in Foss we conclude that the Health and Safety Code provisions precluding parole consideration for recidivist narcotics offenders, are unusual in their severity by comparison with punishments levied in California for far more serious crimes. Apart from the few offenses for which a term of life imprisonment without possibility of parole is prescribed, and excluding the penalties for drug related offenses, there are three instances in which an offender is subject to a substantial mandatory prison term in excess of one-third of the minimum sentence: the twelve-year period of parole ineligibility imposed upon habitual criminals convicted of specific violent or morally reprehensible felonies with three prior convictions of similar felonies (Pen. Code, § 644, subd. (b), and § 3048.5), the nine-year mandatory prison term levied upon those previously twice convicted of the same serious felonies (Pen. Code, § 644, subd. (a) and § 3047.5), and the seven-year period of parole ineligibility prescribed for prisoners under a life sentence for conviction of crimes such as first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 3046). Each of these provisions punish offenses which are uniformly more violent and serious than any of the acts within the broad ranges of conduct penalized by any one of the Health and Safety Code provisions in question. In the large majority of cases, however, a convict may be released on parole after serving one year or one-third of the minimum sentence, whichever is greater ( People v. Malloy, supra, 41 Cal. App.3d 944, 956; Pen. Code, § 3049), regardless of the number of priors. Under our Indeterminate Sentence Law, the minimum sentence is an indicator of the legislative assessment of the gravity of an offense relative to all other felony offenses. Thus except for a limited number of particularly grievous or repeated offenses, the Legislature has determined the relative seriousness of an offense and set the minimum sentence accordingly. It has further resolved that mandatory prison confinement for one-third of that minimum sentence is reasonable in light of the relevant penological objectives. In regard to the recidivist narcotics offenses proscribed in the Health and Safety Code, the Legislature has established minimum sentences ranging from two to fifteen years. Nevertheless, the Health and Safety Code provisions for recidivist narcotics offenders almost uniformly preclude parole for the entire duration of the minimum sentence. Thus, one convicted of one of the Health and Safety offenses with a five-year minimum sentence will often endure the same period of mandatory parole ineligibility as a person convicted of another crime bearing a fifteen-year minimum sentence. In summary, because of the Health and Safety Code provisions for enhanced periods of parole ineligibility, a recidivist narcotics offender will invariably be precluded from parole consideration for a substantially longer period than a person convicted of a crime which this Legislature itself has indicated to be similarly serious or even more grievous.