Is a probationer's right to associate with minor children permissible as a probation condition?

"The right to associate... 'may be restricted if reasonably necessary to accomplish the essential needs of the state and public order.' [Citations.] Such restrictions are ' "part of the nature of the criminal process. [Citation.]" ' [Citation.] A limitation on the right to associate which takes the form of a probation condition is permissible if it is '(1) primarily designed to meet the ends of rehabilitation and protection of the public and (2) reasonably related to such ends.' [Citations.]" (People v. Lopez, supra, 66 Cal.App.4th at pp. 627-628.) In People v. Delvalle (1994) 26 Cal.App.4th 869, 878, the reviewing court upheld a probation condition that the defendant, who was convicted of attempting to buy a four-year-old child," 'stay away from any places where minor children congregate.' " In People v. Mills (1978) 81 Cal.App.3d 171, 181-182, the defendant had physically restrained a seven-year-old girl, molested her, and attempted to have intercourse. The reviewing court approved a probation condition that defendant not associate with girls under 18 years of age except in the company of responsible adults.

Because probation conditions foster rehabilitation and protect the public safety, they may infringe upon the constitutional rights of the defendant, who is "not entitled to the same degree of constitutional protection as other citizens." (People v. Peck (1996) 52 Cal.App.4th 351, 362.) Consequently, restrictions on a probationer's right of association

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are permissible if reasonably required to accomplish the needs of the state. (People v. Robinson (1988) 199 Cal.App.3d 816, 818 ["restriction of the right of association is part of the nature of the criminal process"].)