Reducing Your Sentence with AB600 in California

AB600 is a new law that allows California courts to recall (or take back) a previous sentence and resentence the person, potentially with a lighter or shorter sentence, if there is a change in the law that might impact the previous sentence. AB600 ensures that your new sentence isn’t worse than the initial sentence. 

The primary purpose of the law is to provide the court with the opportunity to resentence a defendant when the original jail or prison term no longer serves the interest of justice. That is, the law allows a judge to assign a punishment that is both more fitting for the crime and aligns with the current law. 

Before the passage of the law, the courts could only resentence a person with a recommendation from the Department of Corrections, a Board of Parole hearing, or a recommendation from the District Attorney (DA) or Attorney General (AG). The judge only had 120 days after judgment and sentencing to change the sentence in the past, but now may do it at any time. The law also gives the judge guidelines on what factors they may use to decide whether there are “changed circumstances” or whether re-sentencing would be “in the interest of justice.” Judges must still evaluate whether an individual poses a public safety risk before changing a sentence.

While AB600 does not require the courts to respond to a request for resentencing, a good defense lawyer may urge the judge to consider it. Whether or not the sentence is changed is always up to the judge.

Disclaimer – AB600 is a brand new, untested law. The contents of this blog post represent the way I think things will pan out. I will update this post if any information changes. As lawyers bring resentencing requests to judges, we will start to see how judges are using the law. Nevertheless, I believe this law will benefit our clients. 

AB600 went into effect on January 1, 2024.

In short, the purpose of AB600 is to make sentencing fairer. 

Lawmakers created AB600 to address four major issues. 

1. State prisons are overcrowded. Resentencing allows the courts to remove people from prison when they don’t pose a danger and probably won’t re-offend. It takes resources to keep people in prison—resources that are better spent elsewhere. According to data from the California Board of Parole Hearings, 57% of prisoners up for parole are rated “low risk” to re-offend. Of the offenders granted parole in 2022, 67% held a “low risk” rating when assessed by the Comprehensive Risk Assessment tool. 

2. The law is meant to help address discriminatory conviction and sentencing practices. 

3. California laws have changed a great deal, and in many cases, the legislature has decided certain punishments no longer fit the crime. For example, drug laws have changed a great deal over the past decade, which means some offenders may still be sitting in prison, serving sentences that never would have been imposed today. AB600 gives judges the power to send those people home.

4. The likelihood of re-offending reduces over time, and lawmakers have recognized that there might be little value in continuing to hold on to those prisoners. Research has shown that criminal involvement lessens dramatically after an individual reaches 40 years of age and lessens even more after age 50. 

AB600 offers another way to get a lesser sentence. This means that it gives more opportunities to address issues like overcrowding in prisons, changes in sentencing laws, and new research on re-offense rates. 

Most judges care about ensuring the legal process ultimately serves justice. This puts more tools in their toolbox to address injustices or issues on a case-by-case basis.

AB600 changes resentencing in the following ways.

AB600 allows the court to initiate resentencing on its own, even if 120 days have passed since sentencing.

1. AB600 bypasses the need for approval or recommendation by a District Attorney (DA) or correctional agency.

2. Before AB600, only the original prosecuting agency could initiate the recall of a sentence if more than 120 days had passed: the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Secretary, the county correctional administrator, the district attorney, and the attorney general.

AB600 does have its limitations. For example, you’re not entitled to file a petition requesting resentencing. This means that if you send the court a request or we send it on your behalf, the court isn’t required to respond and judges are not required to change any sentence. 

This is where the help of a lawyer comes in. Your defense lawyer may be able to help you prepare and submit an effective resentencing request even though we cannot guarantee that a judge will consider your case for resentencing.

You are not eligible if you might still pose a danger to the public. Examples might include:

• An individual serving a life sentence for murder.
• An individual who has committed a serious sex crime.
• An individual whom the judge identifies as being an ongoing threat to the public.

Circumstances that might make you eligible for resentencing include:

• You were a juvenile defendant tried in adult court.
• You were a juvenile defendant sentenced to life without the possibility of parole and have served at least 25 years. 
• You are an incarcerated elderly person who has spent at least 25 years in prison.
• You committed the crime before age 25.
• You were convicted of a drug-related felony, and that felony was enhanced for prior drug-related felonies.
• You were younger than 12 when sent to juvenile court.
• You had a 5-year sentence enhancement for prior serious felonies.
• You were sentenced before Jan 1, 2015, and served in the military.
• If you were convicted as an accomplice for felony murder or murder.
• If you are the caregiver of an individual under the age of 18.
• If you have a past marijuana conviction.
• If the DA required you, as a condition of your plea bargain, to give up rights that may come from future changes in the law.
• If you received an enhancement for prior felonies.
• If you were charged with a misdemeanor.
• If you were a young person convicted for having consensual underage sex, especially if you are gay and were required to register as a sex offender because you were gay. 
• You were convicted of a drug offense that no longer requires mandatory prison time.
• If your record from while you were incarcerated shows rehabilitation and a lack of disciplinary problems.
• If your risk for future violence is reduced due to your age, time served, or physical condition.

Resentencing is generally for people who are serving long prison sentences or ones that include an upper term or a sentence that has multiple enhancements. 

Enhancements add time to a sentence. For example, the court may reconsider prior strike enhancements (especially as some crimes that were once considered strikes have been re-classified as non-strikes). There are other factors that are considered when removing a strike in addition to the ones listed above. 

An upper-term sentence is the highest possible sentence you can receive for a given crime. If you got the highest possible sentence, the new rules state that there must be aggravating factors that are admitted or proven as justification for imposing that upper sentence. If there is no justification, you can make an argument for resentencing. 

An attorney can always advise you as to whether resentencing is appropriate or worth pursuing in your specific case.

Here are some examples of reasons you could get resentenced. All of them hinge on the fact that your sentence no longer serves the interest of justice, which essentially means that it’s no longer fair.

• There is evidence your constitutional rights were violated during your arrest, trial, or conviction.
• There is evidence that your conviction or sentence may have been in some way unjust.
• You have an exemplary prison disciplinary record.
• You’ve attended rehabilitation programs while in prison.
• The court will consider your current age and the time served.
• The court will consider resentencing if you were young when you committed the offense. 
• The court will consider resentencing if there is a reduced risk of re-offending.
• There is evidence mental illness was a factor in the underlying crime.
• There is evidence discrimination was in play when you were convicted or sentenced.
• There is evidence that childhood trauma or past victimization impacted your offense.

Maybe. It is possible that a court could take a second look at your sentence without you doing anything, but there is no timeline during which that might happen.

The court initiates resentencing. A lawyer can invite the court to have a look. The court is under no obligation to honor the lawyer’s request. Because the law is new, we do not yet know how often the court is responding to these requests.

The court may review your case automatically. If it doesn’t happen automatically, a lawyer can invite the court to look at your sentence. Hire a defense lawyer to send a request to the court.

The request will include two things:

1. The sentencing law that has changed and which now applies to your case.

2. Why resentencing you, specifically, is in the interest of justice, as well as information that shows you would not pose a danger to public safety.

If the judge chooses to consider the request from your lawyer, they can grant resentencing without a hearing if the District Attorney (DA) agrees. If the DA or prosecuting authority doesn’t agree, a hearing is required. 

There are three potential outcomes for an AB600 request.

1. The judge does not respond to the initial request. You will not get resentenced.

2. The judge could deny the request, and the lawyer will let you know.

3. The judge responds to the initial request and will schedule a resentencing hearing where both parties (the defendant and the prosecutor) present evidence to justify their position. Your lawyer will let you know if this is happening.  If the judge agrees with the defendant, another hearing will be held to recall the original sentence and impose a new sentence. Your lawyer will let you know.

Every case is different. It’s best to schedule a consultation with an attorney to discover whether resentencing will be worth pursuing, given the facts of your situation.

Nevertheless, it is wise to make the call to a lawyer, especially if you are serving a long sentence with enhancements, were a young offender, or are an elderly inmate. Resentencing can be a life-changing opportunity for you. In some cases, it can get you out of jail right away if you’ve served enough time.

Reach out today.

They are both parts of a two-step process allowing you to receive a new sentence. If you are eligible and a judge approves, the sentence will need to be recalled and then during resentencing, you’ll get a new sentence.

Yes. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), the parole board, the District Attorney (DA), or the Attorney General (AG) may also initiate a sentence modification.