The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis.  The bill would amend the Penal Code to increase the punishment for certain assault and aggravated assault cases if they were committed in the physical presence or within the hearing of person who is younger than 15 years of age.  Under the provisions of the bill, in these circumstances the punishment for assault would be increased from a Class A misdemeanor to a state jail felony, and the punishment for aggravated assault would be increased from a second degree felony to a first degree felony. A first degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 5 to 99 years or life, a second degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for a term of 2 to 20 years, and a state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for a term from 180 days to 2 years or Class A Misdemeanor punishment.  In addition to confinement, most felony offenses are subject to an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.  A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by confinement in county jail for a term not to exceed one year and in addition to confinement, an optional fine not to exceed $4,000.

Increasing the punishment for any criminal offense is expected to result in additional demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the State due to longer terms of supervision in the community and additional persons sentenced to a term of confinement in state correctional institutions.  The bill may have a negative population impact by increasing the number of people incarcerated within state correctional institutions. Whether the bill would result in a significant impact on correctional populations cannot be determined due to the lack of data or information related to the number of cases in which certain assault and aggravated assault offenses were committed in the physical presence or within the hearing of a person who is younger than 15 years of age.  In fiscal year 2018, 54,524 people were arrested, 7,465 were placed under community supervision, and 2,742 were admitted into state correctional institutions for the offenses of assault and aggravated assault subject to the bill's provisions. Data do not exist that would allow for those cases in which these offenses were committed in the physical presence or within hearing of a person who is younger than 15 years of age to be identified from all other cases.