‘Law Is Too Soft on Burglary’

Cabrera’s article leaves out four crucial facts about current laws governing residential burglary. As a result, the article creates the entirely false impression that breaking into a home is regarded under the law as no more serious than breaking into a commercial structure or a warehouse.

Burglary is the entry of any structure, including a residence, with the intent to commit a theft or other felony. Cabrera correctly states that burglary is classified in the penal code among crimes against property. He fails to point out that the code distinguishes between burglary of a residence and burglaries of other structures.

Burglary of a residence--classified as burglary of the first degree--is more severely punished than all other burglaries. Non-residential burglary is punishable by up to a year in county jail, or by a maximum of three years in state prison; burglary of a residence is punishable by two, four, or six years in state prison. In addition, the practice of plea bargaining is prohibited when a defendant is charged with residential burglary. Finally, except in unusual cases, a person convicted of burglarizing a residence is ineligible for probation.

A second conviction for residential burglary also carries severe consequences under the repeat offender statutes. Residential burglary is included in a list of serious felonies that also includes murder, rape, assault with a deadly weapon, and other violent crimes. If a person is convicted of any one of these serious felonies, and it is found that he was previously convicted of any serious felony, his sentence for the new felony is enhanced by an additional term of five years for the prior conviction.

Because the increased risk of a violent crime and the increased incidence of emotional trauma that Cabrera discusses in his article are associated with residential burglary only, the public should know all of the penalties attached specifically to residential burglary, before being invited to conclude that the law is “too soft on burglary.”

TYNA THALL ORREN

Pasadena