Pen. Code, § 190 · Chapter 1. Homicide
Pen. Code, § 190
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) Every person guilty of murder in the first degree shall be punished by death, imprisonment in the state prison for life without the possibility of parole, or imprisonment in the state prison for a term of 25 years to life. The penalty to be applied shall be determined as provided in Sections 190.1, 190.2, 190.3, 190.4, and 190.5.
Except as provided in subdivision (b), (c), or (d), every person guilty of murder in the second degree shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of 15 years to life.
(b) Except as provided in subdivision (c), every person guilty of murder in the second degree shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of 25 years to life if the victim was a peace officer, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 830.1, subdivision (a), (b), or (c) of Section 830.2, subdivision (a) of Section 830.33, or Section 830.5, who was killed while engaged in the performance of his or her duties, and the defendant knew, or reasonably should have known, that the victim was a peace officer engaged in the performance of his or her duties.
(c) Every person guilty of murder in the second degree shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of life without the possibility of parole if the victim was a peace officer, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 830.1, subdivision (a), (b), or (c) of Section 830.2, subdivision (a) of Section 830.33, or Section 830.5, who was killed while engaged in the performance of his or her duties, and the defendant knew, or reasonably should have known, that the victim was a peace officer engaged in the performance of his or her duties, and any of the following facts has been charged and found true:
(1) The defendant specifically intended to kill the peace officer.
(2) The defendant specifically intended to inflict great bodily injury, as defined in Section 12022.7, on a peace officer.
(3) The defendant personally used a dangerous or deadly weapon in the commission of the offense, in violation of subdivision (b) of Section 12022.
(4) The defendant personally used a firearm in the commission of the offense, in violation of Section 12022.5.
(d) Every person guilty of murder in the second degree shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of 20 years to life if the killing was perpetrated by means of shooting a firearm from a motor vehicle, intentionally at another person outside of the vehicle with the intent to inflict great bodily injury.
(e) Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 2930) of Chapter 7 of Title 1 of Part 3 shall not apply to reduce any minimum term of a sentence imposed pursuant to this section. A person sentenced pursuant to this section shall not be released on parole prior to serving the minimum term of confinement prescribed by this section.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 1998, Ch. 760, Sec. 6. Approved in Proposition 19 at the March 7, 2000, election. Prior History: Added Nov. 7, 1978, by initiative Prop. 7; amended June 7, 1988, by Prop. 67 (from Stats. 1987, Ch. 1006); amended June 7, 1994, by Prop. 179 (from Stats. 1993, Ch. 609); amended June 2, 1998, by Prop. 222 (from Stats. 1997, Ch. 413, Sec. 1, which incorporated Stats. 1996, Ch. 598).
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=190.
- Text hash
- sha256 219391bde67a9aab0de3d30c42294718eb0c07de838d2134a1e8fb9087535eb9
- 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
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.
Penal Code
- Pen. Code, § 190.1Printed as Sections 190.1, 190.2, 190.3, 190.4, and 190.5
- Pen. Code, § 190.2Printed as Sections 190.1, 190.2, 190.3, 190.4, and 190.5
- Pen. Code, § 190.3Printed as Sections 190.1, 190.2, 190.3, 190.4, and 190.5
- Pen. Code, § 190.4Printed as Sections 190.1, 190.2, 190.3, 190.4, and 190.5
- Pen. Code, § 190.5Printed as Sections 190.1, 190.2, 190.3, 190.4, and 190.5
- Pen. Code, § 830.1Printed as Section 830.1
- Pen. Code, § 830.2Printed as Section 830.2
- Pen. Code, § 830.33Printed as Section 830.33
- Pen. Code, § 830.5Printed as Section 830.5
- Pen. Code, pt. 3, tit. 1, ch. 7, art. 2.5Credit on Term of ImprisonmentPrinted as Article 2.5 (commencing with Section 2930) of Chapter 7 of Title 1 of Part 3
- Pen. Code, § 12022Printed as Section 12022
- Pen. Code, § 12022.5Printed as Section 12022.5
- Pen. Code, § 12022.7Printed as Section 12022.7
Cited by 6 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Pen. Code, § 190. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Penal Code
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