Pen. Code, § 278 · Chapter 4. Child Abduction
Pen. Code, § 278
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Every person, not having a right to custody, who maliciously takes, entices away, keeps, withholds, or conceals any child with the intent to detain or conceal that child from a lawful custodian shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or both that fine and imprisonment, or by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for two, three, or four years, a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or both that fine and imprisonment.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 15, Sec. 313. (AB 109) Effective April 4, 2011. Operative October 1, 2011, by Sec. 636 of Ch. 15, as amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 39, Sec. 68.
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=278.
- Text hash
- sha256 612f8ee5fbf0b6ebedebb340499f2df53069b1a71b1b3307d3eb7b4b921402d7
- 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
Cited by 10 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Pen. Code, § 278. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
Government Code
Penal Code
- Pen. Code, § 278.6Printed as Section 278 or 278.5
- Pen. Code, § 279Printed as Section 278 or 278.5
- Pen. Code, § 279.1Printed as Sections 278 and 278.5
- Pen. Code, § 279.5Printed as Section 278 or 278.5
- Pen. Code, § 279.6Printed as Section 278 or 278.5
- Pen. Code, § 667.8Printed as Section 277, 278, or 278.5
- Pen. Code, § 784.5Printed as Section 277, 278, or 278.5
- Pen. Code, § 868.5Printed as Section 211, 215, 220, 236.1, 240, 242, 243.4, 245, 261, 266, 266a, 266b, 266c, 266d, 266e, 266f, 266g, 266h, 266i, 266j, 266k, 267, 269, 273a, 273d, 273.5, 273.6, 278, 278.5, 285, 286, 287, 288, 288.
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.