The provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions are the subject of this analysis. The bill would amend the Penal Code as it relates to the criminal penalty for the offense of criminal mischief. Under the provisions of the bill, if the amount of the pecuniary loss is $750 or more but less than $150,000, if the property damaged or destroyed is a public monument, the offense would be a third degree felony. Under existing statute, criminal mischief is punishable as a misdemeanor or felony based on specific circumstances of the offense.
A third degree felony is punishable by confinement in prison for a term from 2 to 10 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 felonies can be subject to an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.
Increasing the criminal penalty for an offense is expected to result in additional demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the State due to an increase in the length of supervision of individuals placed onto supervision in the community or length of stay of individuals sentenced to a term of confinement within state correctional institutions. From fiscal years 2018 through 2020, an average of 30 people were arrested, fewer than ten were placed onto felony direct community supervision, and fewer than ten were admitted into a state correctional institution for the state jail felony criminal mischief offense modified in the bill. There is a lack of data to identify the number of cases that would now be punishable as a third degree felony from all other criminal mischief state jail felony cases. This analysis assumes implementing the provisions of the bill addressing felony sanctions would not result in a significant impact on state correctional populations or on the demand for state correctional resources.