Bills · 2021-2022 Regular Session

AB 1197

Relating to: a mitigating factor in sentencing where the crime is committed by a victim of sex trafficking.

Unfamiliar terms? Glossary

What this bill does

Plain-language analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau

Under current law, when a court makes a sentencing decision, it must consider

aggravating or mitigating factors. This bill creates a mitigating factor for sentencing

a person who has been convicted of a violent crime against a sex trafficker if the

offender was the victim of the sex trafficker not more than one year before the violent

crime was committed. The bill also applies to inmates serving a sentence imposed

before the bill became effective. Under the bill, an inmate may petition the

sentencing court for a sentence modification if he or she was sentenced before the

mitigating factor became law, and the court may modify the sentence if it determines

that a modification is appropriate for that inmate based on the mitigating factor

created in the bill.