Updated October 1, 2026. By Gabriel R. McGuire.
Quick answer
California Penal Code 422 makes certain threats of death or great bodily injury a crime. The prosecution must prove more than an angry statement: the person must intend the statement to be understood as a threat, the words and circumstances must communicate a serious and immediate prospect of execution, and the recipient must actually experience reasonable, sustained fear. The person making the threat does not have to intend to carry it out. The Judicial Council's CALCRIM 1300 instruction explains these requirements.
PC 422 can be prosecuted as a misdemeanor or felony. Bail depends on the current charges, county schedule, warrant or court order and any other custody restrictions. If a loved one is arrested, Bail Hotline's dedicated posting team can help with the bond process and walk a cosigner through the agreement. The court decides release conditions and the criminal case.
Criminal threats at a glance
| Question | What families should know |
|---|---|
| What kind of threat does PC 422 cover? | A willful threat to commit a crime causing death or great bodily injury, with the required intent, seriousness and fear. |
| Can a text or online message qualify? | Yes. Written and electronic communications can qualify when all the elements are proved. |
| Must the person intend to carry out the threat? | No. Intent that the statement be taken as a threat is a separate requirement. |
| Is every frightening statement a completed PC 422 offense? | No. Actual sustained fear, reasonable fear and the other elements still matter. |
| What are the basic adult custody penalties? | The misdemeanor maximum is 364 days under PC 18.5. The ordinary felony prison terms are 16 months, two years or three years, before any applicable additional sentencing rules. |
| Is there one California bail amount? | No. Confirm the actual amount and release status for the booking. |
| Does posting bail cancel a protective order? | No. Follow the order's specific terms unless the court changes them. |
In this guide: What must be proved | Texts and context | Attempted threats | Other offenses | Penalties | Bail | Family steps | Protective orders | Bail Hotline help | FAQ
What must be proved under PC 422
The legal requirements work together. A booking label or a troubling screenshot does not establish every element of a criminal conviction. CALCRIM 1300, revised in February 2026, separates the proof into six parts. Each has a practical purpose when a lawyer examines the accusation.
A willful threat of death or great bodily injury
The alleged threat must concern unlawfully killing someone or causing great bodily injury. The jury instruction describes great bodily injury as significant or substantial physical injury beyond moderate harm. A statement about embarrassment, an economic dispute or damage to property does not become a PC 422 threat simply because it is upsetting. Another law may still apply to the conduct.
Willful conduct means conduct done willingly or on purpose. That requirement is different from a need to prove that the speaker understood the Penal Code or intended every later consequence. A lawyer will examine what was actually communicated and the evidence supporting its meaning.
An oral, written or electronic communication
PC 422 covers statements made verbally, in writing or through an electronic communication device. A conversation, letter, text, email or electronic recording may therefore supply evidence. The legal question remains whether the communication satisfies the full offense.
The form of the communication matters. The authorities collected in CALCRIM 1300 distinguish verbal statements from threatening hand gestures alone. Physical conduct can help explain words and can violate other laws, but a family should not assume every alarming gesture automatically establishes this particular charge.
Intent that the statement be understood as a threat
The prosecution must prove the required intent about the communication. Intending that a statement be taken as a threat is different from intending to perform the threatened act. Saying that the speaker would never actually have acted does not, by itself, answer the PC 422 question.
Communications through another person require attention to whether the alleged speaker intended the threat to reach the recipient. A private remark and a deliberately relayed threat do not present identical facts. Counsel needs the full communication history, including who received the statement and how it reached the person allegedly threatened.
Sufficient seriousness and immediacy in context
The jury evaluates the words alongside their surrounding circumstances. The communication must convey a serious intention and the immediate prospect that the threat will be carried out. Relevant context can include the relationship, the setting, earlier interactions and conduct surrounding the statement.
A condition in a sentence does not automatically prevent a criminal-threat conviction. CALCRIM 1300's commentary, discussing People v. Bolin, explains that a conditional threat can still convey the required gravity and immediate prospect. The instruction also states that an immediate ability to carry out the threat is not required. Families should avoid treating one word or the speaker's physical distance as a complete legal answer.
Actual sustained fear
For the completed offense, the threat must actually cause sustained fear for the recipient's safety or the safety of the recipient's immediate family. CALCRIM 1300 distinguishes sustained fear from fear that is merely momentary or fleeting. It does not provide a universal stopwatch rule that resolves every case.
The statute's family definition also extends beyond children and spouses. It includes specified relatives and people who regularly live in the household, as well as people who regularly lived there within the preceding six months. The relationship and living arrangements can therefore matter when the alleged fear concerns another person.
Fear that was reasonable under the circumstances
Actual fear and reasonable fear are separate questions. The prosecution must prove both for the completed offense. The recipient's reaction matters, and so do the circumstances explaining that reaction. The same isolated words can have a different significance when the surrounding facts differ.
This is why a defense review usually reaches beyond a single quoted line. A lawyer can evaluate the complete conversation, accounts from witnesses, records of earlier events and evidence of what happened afterward. Families can help organize existing information without contacting or pressuring the person who reported the threat.
Texts, online posts and the surrounding circumstances
Electronic communication does not lower the proof requirements. A message that looks threatening still requires examination of intent, meaning, context and fear. The current PC 422 expressly includes electronic devices. The communication medium does not decide the case by itself.
For a family trying to help counsel, keeping the complete existing thread is usually more useful than selecting the most favorable line. Note the sender and recipient identifiers, dates, times and where the original material is stored. Keep available surrounding messages with the relevant statement. Do not edit an image so that the original context disappears, delete records or use another person's account without permission.
An online audience can complicate the factual questions. A public post, a direct message and a communication passed along by a third person can reach their recipients in different ways. The attorney needs to examine who the communication concerned, whether it was conveyed to that person and what the accused intended. A screenshot alone may leave those questions unanswered.
The Supreme Court's decision in In re George T. illustrates why context matters. As explained in CALCRIM 1300's related-issues discussion, the court found a student's poem insufficiently clear and immediate, considering the surrounding circumstances, to establish the criminal threat at issue. That decision does not make every poem, joke or online post immune from prosecution. It shows why the required proof cannot be replaced by the fact that a statement disturbed someone.
Constitutional speech questions can require a lawyer's careful analysis. Families should preserve the evidence and leave legal conclusions to counsel. An arrest is an allegation, and the prosecution's burden at trial remains separate from the decisions made during booking and release.
What if the recipient was not in sustained fear?
A failure to prove actual sustained fear can matter greatly to a completed PC 422 charge. It does not establish that every possible threat-related charge must fail. In People v. Toledo (2001), the California Supreme Court recognized attempted criminal threats and affirmed the attempted-threat conviction before it.
The decision discussed situations in which someone acts with the required intent and makes a legally sufficient threat, but a circumstance prevents completion. One example concerns a recipient who understands the threat but does not actually experience sustained fear, although the circumstances reasonably could have produced that fear. The intent and other required facts still matter. The decision does not turn every offensive statement into an attempt.
For a family, the useful question is the exact filed allegation: completed PC 422, an attempt or another offense. A jail record may be abbreviated, and a prosecutor's later filing may differ from the arrest label. Give counsel the available booking and court documents rather than assuming that one missing element resolves the entire case.
PC 422 and other threat-related offenses
Several California laws address conduct that may be described casually as a threat. They have different elements and penalties. The exact section number on the booking record or complaint matters.
| Conduct described in an accusation | Separate provision to distinguish |
|---|---|
| Knowingly false bomb reports or specified conduct involving a false bomb | PC 148.1, with requirements that vary by subdivision. |
| A false or facsimile weapon of mass destruction used with the specified intent | PC 11418.1. |
| Publishing information about an academic researcher or family with intent that another person imminently use it for violence or a threat of violence, where the information is likely to produce the imminent crime | PC 422.4. |
These provisions are not a list of additional definitions inside PC 422. An accusation may involve more than one law, but each charge requires its own analysis. A false-bomb allegation, for example, should not be assigned the sentence for PC 422 merely because both situations involve fear.
Likewise, repeated following, harassment, a protective-order violation or alleged interference with a witness can present separate legal questions. This guide focuses on criminal threats under PC 422. Ask the attorney which sections and subdivisions are actually charged and which release restrictions apply to the complete case.
Misdemeanor and felony penalties
PC 422 provides alternate misdemeanor and felony punishment, often described as a wobbler. The basic adult sentencing exposure depends on how the offense is prosecuted and resolved. A booking code does not tell a family what sentence a court will eventually impose.
The misdemeanor language in PC 422(a) refers to a county-jail term not exceeding one year. PC 18.5(a) makes the applicable maximum 364 days. That qualification concerns the covered one-year county-jail maximum; it is not a cap on every possible county-jail sentence or a combined sentence for multiple offenses.
For a felony PC 422 conviction, the ordinary prison terms are 16 months, two years or three years, under the state-prison provision and the general felony terms in PC 18(a). These are basic terms. Other charges, proven enhancements and criminal history can change the total exposure. They should not be presented as a guarantee that the entire case ends within three years.
The serious-felony classification deserves attention. PC 1192.7(c)(38) includes felony criminal threats under PC 422. A lawyer should explain the consequences of that classification and any prior-conviction allegations before a person makes decisions about a plea. The classification does not mean that an arrest itself establishes a felony conviction.
The current statute also permits the court, when sentencing a person convicted of a felony violation of PC 422(a), to consider an aggravating factor if the defendant willfully threatened death or great bodily injury to someone the defendant knew was a covered state constitutional officer, Member of the Legislature, judge or court commissioner. That provision took effect January 1, 2026. Its specific requirements matter; it does not replace the underlying PC 422 elements or apply automatically whenever an official is involved.
Keep bail and punishment separate. Bail concerns release during the case. Posting a bond does not buy a particular sentence, establish innocence or resolve the accusation. The criminal defense attorney handles the merits, potential penalties and available legal options.
Bail after a criminal-threats arrest
There is no single California bail amount for PC 422. Under PC 1269b, county judges prepare and annually revise countywide schedules. Before a court appearance, a warrant or applicable schedule can supply the amount. After the defendant appears on the charge, the judge's bail order controls.
Families should confirm the current booking rather than rely on an old online dollar figure. Ask for the exact charges, whether they are recorded as misdemeanor or felony, the current bail amount, whether bail can presently be accepted and whether other holds or cases affect release. Information from the first arrest may change as the case progresses.
Special hearing rules for felony PC 422
PC 1270.1 includes felony PC 422. Subject to its stated exception, it requires an open-court hearing before release on one's own recognizance or on bail at an amount above or below the schedule. The section also provides notice and an opportunity for the prosecution and defense to be heard.
That rule should not be paraphrased as a universal requirement that every scheduled bond await this hearing. Its trigger concerns the specified release decisions. The statute separately allows a qualifying increase through the procedure described in subdivision (e). Counsel and the custody agency can clarify what has actually occurred in the particular booking.
At the hearing, the court considers matters including prior court appearances, potential sentence, danger to other people, community ties and ability to post bond. Families can help counsel gather accurate information. A stable address or a history of attending court may be relevant, but no single fact guarantees release or a reduction.
Safety and the court's decision
PC 1275 identifies public safety as the primary consideration in setting, reducing or denying bail. Alleged threats to a victim or witness are among the matters the court considers. Serious-felony reductions also have specific statutory requirements.
For the family, this makes a realistic release plan useful. Counsel needs accurate information about where the defendant would stay and how court orders would be followed. If the proposed home is shared with a protected person, identify that issue before treating the address as settled.
A bond on this charge does not resolve an unrelated hold, another warrant or every other reason for custody. Ask which restrictions remain. For the paperwork side, the separate California bail-bond checklist explains information a family can organize. For questions about the court's release ruling, speak with defense counsel.
What families can do after an arrest
The most helpful tasks are concrete and verifiable. Families do not need to decide whether the accusation is legally sufficient before beginning to organize the necessary information.
- Confirm custody. Record the person's full name, booking number if available and the agency currently holding them. Confirm where they are now rather than assuming the arrest location is the receiving jail.
- Read the complete charge information. Keep the section numbers, subdivisions and any available warrant or court paperwork. Ask whether the bail information is current and whether the case is awaiting a court decision.
- Arrange criminal defense help. Counsel can address the allegation, the evidence, a release hearing and conditions of release. The official California Courts arraignment guide explains the first appearance and the role of appointed counsel when a defendant qualifies.
- Preserve existing evidence for counsel. Keep complete messages and records in their original form where possible. Make a factual timeline that separates what you personally witnessed from what someone told you. Do not publish accusations, solicit a changed account or contact a protected person on the defendant's behalf.
- Obtain every applicable order. Identify protected people, prohibited contact, any stay-away requirements and the next court date. Give counsel the actual documents if different orders appear to conflict.
- Plan the practical details. Discuss a lawful address, transportation and reminders for required court appearances. A release plan must fit the court's orders. Family willingness to help does not authorize contact that an order forbids.
- Understand the bond agreement before signing. Ask the bail agent to explain the written obligations and your questions. The defendant's court duties and the cosigner's agreement deserve careful attention even when the family feels pressure to move quickly.
If you are the person who has been threatened and face an immediate emergency, call 911. For ongoing safety concerns, law enforcement, a lawyer or the court's assistance resources can help identify appropriate reporting and protective-order options. A family arranging a bond should never pressure someone to withdraw a report as a condition of helping the defendant.
Release planning and protective orders
Criminal-threat allegations can involve partners, relatives, neighbors or people with no household relationship. Release planning must address the actual case. Do not assume that every PC 422 booking is domestic violence, or that the absence of a domestic relationship eliminates the possibility of a protective order.
PC 136.2 authorizes protective orders under its specified circumstances when harm, intimidation or dissuasion of a victim or witness has occurred or is reasonably likely. The California Courts arraignment guide explains that a judge may issue a criminal protective order and that the defendant receives a copy at arraignment if one is issued.
Read the actual contact restriction
The signed order matters more than a family's summary of it. Some provisions prohibit communication; others allow particular limited contact. If a no-contact provision applies, do not use a relative as a messenger to do what the defendant cannot do directly. Questions about an exception or an unclear term belong with the attorney and the court.
An invitation, apology or request to reconcile is not itself a court modification. Posting bail does not cancel the order either. A family should not arrange a meeting on the assumption that everyone agreeing privately makes it permissible. Obtain clarification about the actual order before planning contact.
Check housing, children and belongings
A shared home can make a release plan more complicated. Discuss an appropriate address with counsel before promising that the defendant will return there. If the order affects access to children, a vehicle, work or necessary belongings, tell the lawyer what needs to be resolved. Do not improvise a pickup or exchange that conflicts with the order.
The same care applies to multiple orders. A criminal order and a family-court order can have different purposes and terms. PC 136.2 addresses coordination and enforcement priority in specified situations. Families should supply both documents to counsel and seek a lawful arrangement rather than choosing whichever order seems more convenient.
Prepare for the next court appearance
Release is one stage of the case. The official arraignment guide explains that later dates depend on the charge and the plea, with misdemeanor and felony cases following different paths. Confirm the date, courthouse, department and whether the defendant must attend in person. Keep the written notice and contact counsel if instructions are unclear.
Court-date reminders support preparation, but the defendant still needs to follow the court's requirements. A changed phone number, a move or a transportation problem should be addressed promptly. Neither a family member nor a bail agent can simply excuse an appearance that the court requires.
How Bail Hotline Can Help
Everything above is intended to help families understand the charge and release process. Here is how our team can help with the bond side of a criminal-threats arrest.
Bail Hotline is family-owned and has served families since 2004. We operate through DMCG, Inc., California Department of Insurance license 1845394. Call (888) 958-1228, available 24/7.
A clear bond plan while the family gets organized
Our dedicated 24/7 posting agents help families with the bond process. Start with the defendant's identifying information, current custody location and available booking details. Explain if the case involves another county or if the family is still clarifying an order or hold. A large, complicated or out-of-county bond is not an automatic no; the circumstances receive individual consideration.
Every cosigner is walked through the agreement. Bring your questions about the written responsibilities before signing, and explain what information you still need. Our team also provides text court-date reminders to help clients prepare for appearances. The court and defense attorney remain the sources for the defendant's legal appearance requirements.
If a warrant or missed appearance becomes an issue, ask our team about the appropriate warrant walkthrough and tell defense counsel promptly. Every case is different, the judge makes the final decision and we cannot promise a result. Willful conduct is treated differently from an honest mistake; no release, reinstatement or dismissal is automatic.
Contact an active California office
These direct office links offer practical starting points across California. Identify the county handling the case when you contact the team.
| Area | Bail Hotline office |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles County | Los Angeles Bail Office |
| San Diego County | San Diego Bail Office |
| Fresno County | Fresno Bail Office |
| Sacramento area | Sacramento Bail Office |
| Oakland and the East Bay | Oakland Bail Office |
Use the locations directory for additional offices and the bail FAQ for common bond questions. Tell the team about the actual booking and court order so the discussion stays focused on the family's situation.
Frequently asked questions
Can criminal threats be charged as a misdemeanor?
Yes. PC 422 provides misdemeanor and felony punishment. The applicable misdemeanor county-jail maximum is 364 days under PC 18.5. Ask counsel about the charge actually filed and the potential consequences in the complete case.
Can a single text message qualify under PC 422?
Potentially, yes. The law covers written and electronic communication and does not require a series of messages for this offense. The prosecution still must prove the required intent, the seriousness and immediacy of the threat, and reasonable sustained fear. Preserve the surrounding conversation for counsel.
Is it a defense that the person never intended to act?
An intention to carry out the threatened act is not required under PC 422. The required intent concerns whether the statement was meant to be understood as a threat. That distinction does not eliminate the prosecution's obligation to prove all the other elements.
Does a conditional statement automatically avoid the charge?
No. The words and circumstances must be evaluated together. CALCRIM 1300 explains that a conditional threat can still satisfy the law when it conveys the required seriousness and immediate prospect of execution. An attorney can assess the actual communication.
What if the recipient says they were never afraid?
Actual sustained fear is required for the completed offense, and the fear must be reasonable. An attempted-criminal-threat allegation may present a different question, as People v. Toledo explains. Counsel should review the evidence and exact charges rather than assume the entire case ends on that statement alone.
What is the bail amount for felony criminal threats?
There is no universal statewide amount. Confirm the current county schedule, warrant or judge's order and any other custody restrictions. PC 1270.1 provides special hearing requirements for the specified decisions about changing scheduled bail or releasing someone on their own recognizance.
Can the family cancel a criminal protective order?
The family cannot cancel a court order by agreeing privately. Read the exact terms and ask the attorney about obtaining a court modification when appropriate. Release on bail does not authorize contact that the order prohibits.
Does posting bail resolve the criminal-threats case?
No. Bail concerns release during the case, while the court proceedings address the allegation and possible penalties. The defendant must comply with release conditions and required appearances. A criminal defense lawyer handles the case, and a bail agent handles the bond process.
Why We Publish This
Families facing a criminal-threats arrest need accurate information about the charge, the release process and the court's orders. This guide provides general California information, checked against the sources below on October 1, 2026. It is not legal advice for an individual case. Ask a criminal defense attorney to apply the law to the actual allegations and documents.
Sources and Further Reading
- California Penal Code 422: current criminal-threats statute, including the amendment effective January 1, 2026.
- Judicial Council, 2026 CALCRIM, instruction 1300: elements, definitions and related authorities, printed pages 1025 through 1029.
- PC 18.5, PC 18 and PC 1192.7: custody terms and serious-felony classification.
- PC 1269b, PC 1270.1 and PC 1275: bail schedules, specified hearings and safety considerations.
- PC 136.2 and California Courts, The arraignment: protective orders and early court proceedings.
- People v. Toledo, 26 Cal.4th 221 (2001), published opinion: attempted criminal threats.
- PC 148.1, PC 11418.1 and PC 422.4: separate offenses distinguished from PC 422.