Trivia by Gary June 4, 2026
I’m pretty sure most of us know that a person who serves any time in jail up through sentencing gets credit for that pre-sentence time, assuming it’s attibutable to the reason the person is in jail. Prior to 1972 in California, a defendant was not entitled to credit for time spent in custody prior to conviction. Penal Code section 2900.5 was enacted in 1971. It was originally to be applied prospectively only, but that was held to violate equal protection guarantees. Keep in mind that California operated under the Indeterminate Sentence Law prior to 1977. Defendants were simply sentenced “to the term prescribed by law,” which usually involved a range, such as six months to life, or one to fourteen years. The Adult Authority was vested with the obligation to decide when a prisoner should be released. Section 2900.5 has been amended many times. Of interest to me is that the 1976 version contained language in subdivision (c) that appeared to prevent judges from considering the amount of presentence credit when deciding what term should be imposed: “The credits provided by this section shall not be considered in establishing or fixing any condition of probation, parole date, or term of imprisonment; but such credits shall be applied to any such condition of probation, parole date, or term of imprisonment no later than one week after it has been established or fixed.” Alas, that restriction is nowhere to be found today.