2007 California Penal Code Chapter 8. False Imprisonment

CA Codes (pen:236-237)

236.  False imprisonment is the unlawful violation of the personal
liberty of another.



236.1.  (a) Any person who deprives or violates the personal liberty
of another with the intent to effect or maintain a felony violation
of Section 266, 266h, 266i, 267, 311.4, or 518, or to obtain forced
labor or services, is guilty of human trafficking.
   (b)  Except as provided in subdivision (c), a violation of this
section is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for three,
four, or five years.
   (c) A violation of this section where the victim of the
trafficking was under 18 years of age at the time of the commission
of the offense is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for
four, six, or eight years.
   (d) (1) For purposes of this section, unlawful deprivation or
violation of the personal liberty of another includes substantial and
sustained restriction of another's liberty accomplished through
fraud, deceit, coercion, violence, duress, menace, or threat of
unlawful injury to the victim or to another person, under
circumstances where the person receiving or apprehending the threat
reasonably believes that it is likely that the person making the
threat would carry it out.
   (2) Duress includes knowingly destroying, concealing, removing,
confiscating, or possessing any actual or purported passport or
immigration document of the victim.
   (e) For purposes of this section, "forced labor or services" means
labor or services that are performed or provided by a person and are
obtained or maintained through force, fraud, or coercion, or
equivalent conduct that would reasonably overbear the will of the
person.
   (f) The Legislature finds that the definition of human trafficking
in this section is equivalent to the federal definition of a severe
form of trafficking found in Section 7102(8) of Title 22 of the
United States Code.



236.2.  (a) Within 15 business days of the first encounter of a
victim of human trafficking, victim pursuant to Section 236.1, law
enforcement agencies shall provide brief letters that satisfy the
following Law Enforcement Agency Endorsement (LEA) regulations as
found in Section 214.11(f)(1) of Chapter 8 of the Code of Federal
Regulations.
   (b) The LEA must be submitted on Supplement B, Declaration of Law
Enforcement Officer for Victim of Trafficking in Persons, of Form
I-914. The LEA endorsement must be filled out completely in
accordance with the instructions contained on the form and must
attach the results of any name or database inquiry performed. In
order to provide persuasive evidence, the LEA endorsement must
contain a description of the victimization upon which the application
is based, including the dates the trafficking in persons and
victimization occurred, and be signed by a supervising official
responsible for the investigation or prosecution of trafficking in
persons. The LEA endorsement must address whether the victim had been
recruited, harbored, transported, provided, or obtained specifically
for either labor or services, or for the purposes of a commercial
sex act.
   (c) Where state law enforcement agencies find the grant of a LEA
endorsement to be inappropriate for a victim of trafficking in
persons, the agency shall within 15 days provide the victim with a
letter explaining the grounds of the denial of the LEA. The victim
may submit additional evidence to the law enforcement agency, which
must reconsider the denial of the LEA within one week of the receipt
of additional evidence.



237.  (a) False imprisonment is punishable by a fine not exceeding
one thousand dollars (,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail
for not more than one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
If the false imprisonment be effected by violence, menace, fraud, or
deceit, it shall be punishable by imprisonment in the state prison.
   (b) False imprisonment of an elder or dependent adult by use of
violence, menace, fraud, or deceit shall be punishable as described
in subdivision (f) of Section 368.