Pen. Code, § 279 · Chapter 4. Child Abduction
Pen. Code, § 279
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
A violation of Section 278 or 278.5 by a person who was not a resident of, or present in, this state at the time of the alleged offense is punishable in this state, whether the intent to commit the offense is formed within or outside of this state, if any of the following apply:
(a) The child was a resident of, or present in, this state at the time the child was taken, enticed away, kept, withheld, or concealed.
(b) The child thereafter is found in this state.
(c) A lawful custodian or a person with a right to visitation is a resident of this state at the time the child was taken, enticed away, kept, withheld, or concealed.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Repealed and added by Stats. 1996, Ch. 988, Sec. 9. Effective January 1, 1997.
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=279.
- Text hash
- sha256 17bd091f66ecec6888e47716449fadf23c0445b1bc2f16343147292f528e4846
- 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.
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.