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Pen. Code, § 1603 · Title 15. OUTPATIENT STATUS FOR MENTALLY DISORDERED AND DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED OFFENDERS

Pen. Code, § 1603

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) Before any person subject to subdivision (a) of Section 1601 may be placed on outpatient status the court shall consider all of the following criteria:

(1) Whether the medical director or designee of the state hospital or other treatment facility to which the person has been committed advises the committing court, defense counsel, and the prosecutor that the defendant would no longer be a danger to the health and safety of others, including themselves, while under supervision and treatment in the community, will benefit from that status, and identifies an appropriate program of supervision and treatment.

(2) Whether the community program director or a designee, or pursuant to Section 4360.5 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, the independent placement panel, advises the committing court, defense counsel, and the prosecutor that the defendant would no longer be a danger to the health and safety of others, including themselves, while under supervision and treatment in the community, will benefit from that status, and identifies an appropriate program of supervision and treatment.

(b) (1) Prior to release of a person under subdivision (a), the prosecutor shall provide notice of the hearing date and pending release to the victim or next of kin of the victim of the offense for which the person was committed where a request for the notice has been filed with the court, and after a hearing in court, the court shall specifically approve the recommendation and plan for outpatient status pursuant to Section 1604. The burden shall be on the victim or next of kin to the victim to keep the court apprised of the party’s current mailing address.

(2) In any case in which the victim or next of kin to the victim has filed a request for notice with the director of the state hospital or other treatment facility, they shall be notified by the director at the inception of any program in which the committed person would be allowed any type of day release unattended by the staff of the facility.

(c) The community program director, their designee, or the independent placement panel, shall prepare and submit the evaluation and the treatment plan specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) to the court within 30 calendar days after notification by the court to do so.

(d) Any evaluations and recommendations pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a) shall include review and consideration of complete, available information regarding the circumstances of the criminal offense and the person’s prior criminal history.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 2026, Ch. 27, Sec. 60. (SB 164) Effective June 29, 2026.

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&sectionNum=1603.
Text hash
sha256 c3bdd71e5e56905effce1945cc2ca9e3baa498e06a3a0321457a0362473b2743
Composed by
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

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