Pen. Code, § 1367 · Chapter 6. Inquiry into the Competence of the Defendant Before Trial or After Conviction
Pen. Code, § 1367
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) A person shall not be tried or adjudged to punishment or have their probation, mandatory supervision, postrelease community supervision, or parole revoked while that person is mentally incompetent. A defendant is mentally incompetent for purposes of this chapter if, as a result of a mental health disorder or developmental disability, the defendant is unable to understand the nature of the criminal proceedings or to assist counsel in the conduct of a defense in a rational manner.
(b) Section 1370 applies to a person who is charged with a felony or alleged to have violated the terms of probation for a felony or mandatory supervision and is incompetent as a result of a mental health disorder. Section 1370.01 applies to a person who is charged with a misdemeanor or misdemeanors only, or a violation of formal or informal probation for a misdemeanor, and the judge finds reason to believe that the defendant has a mental health disorder, and may, as a result of the mental health disorder, be incompetent to stand trial. Section 1370.1 applies to a person who is incompetent as a result of a developmental disability and applies to a person who is incompetent as a result of a mental health disorder, but also has a developmental disability. Section 1370.02 applies to a person alleged to have violated the terms of the person’s postrelease community supervision or parole.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 9, Sec. 4. (AB 46) Effective January 1, 2020.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=1367.
- Text hash
- sha256 607e63b2aabffac0358fa84b938b9660cb843e6205efa9e8d9d420cd8e02b61e
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- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Cited by 5 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Pen. Code, § 1367. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Streets and Highways Code
California Rules of Court
- Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.130Mental competency proceedingsPrinted as Penal Code section 1367
- Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.131Evaluation of defendant after initiation of mental competency proceedingsPrinted as Penal Code section 1367
- Cal. Rules of Court, rule 5.643Mental health or condition of child; court proceduresPrinted as Pen. Code, § 1367
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