Is a probation condition that prohibits a defendant from associating with a criminal street gang unconstitutional?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Leon, 104 Cal. Rptr. 3d 410, 181 Cal.App.4th 943 (Cal. App. 2010):

(3) We agree with the parties that the condition is constitutionally defective because it lacks an explicit knowledge requirement. Absent that qualification, the condition renders defendant vulnerable to criminal punishment for "associating with persons not known to him to be gang members." (People v. Lopez (1998) 66 Cal.App.4th 615, 628-629 [78 Cal.Rptr.2d 66].) Given "the rule that probation conditions that implicate constitutional rights must be narrowly drawn, and the importance of constitutional rights," the knowledge requirement in probation conditions "should not be left to implication." (People v. Garcia (1993) 19 Cal.App.4th 97, 102 [23 Cal.Rptr.2d 340].) Accordingly, we will order the gang-association probation condition modified to read as follows: "You are not to associate with any person you know to be or the probation officer informs you is a member of a criminal street gang."

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