Criminal Threats Bail Bonds — PC 422

Penal Code § 422 makes it an offence to wilfully threaten to commit a crime that will result in death or great bodily injury, where the threat is so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate and specific that it conveys a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution, and the person threatened is placed in sustained fear for their own safety or that of their immediate family.

It is a wobbler. Charged as a felony it is a serious felony, which means it counts as a strike — and that is what drives the bail figure well above what families expect for a case where, very often, nothing physical happened.

Why no injury does not mean a low figure

• The offence is the threat itself. No contact and no injury are required.
• The threat does not have to be carried out, and the person making it does not have to intend to carry it out.
• As a serious felony it is a strike, so a prior strike doubles the bail and a second takes it to $200,000.
• § 1275(c) applies. The court must find unusual circumstances, stated on the record, before reducing bail below the county schedule for a serious felony under § 1192.7(c).

Where it usually appears

Rarely on its own. We see § 422 most often alongside a domestic violence allegation, an assault, or a protective order violation. Where the case is domestic, Penal Code § 1270.1 also applies: release on own recognizance or at any figure other than the scheduled amount requires a hearing in open court. The scheduled amount can still be posted immediately.

How the bail figure is built

Where a felony section has no individual entry in the Orange County schedule, the county prices it from the state prison top term using its guideline table — $20,000 at a three-year top term, rising through $55,000 at ten years to $100,000 at sixteen, with all life-term offences at $1,000,000. That is why two people booked the same night on similar-sounding charges are quoted very different numbers. See the Orange County bail schedule explained and how California bail schedules work.

Two multipliers apply across the board: one documented strike prior enhances bail to $100,000 and two to $200,000, and in Orange County felony bails do not stack count by count — the highest single felony amount plus enhancement governs.

In Los Angeles County, read the protocol column before assuming a bond is needed at all — LA County bail amount lookup. Serious and violent felonies are excluded from the county’s $0 pre-arraignment release.

What to do first

1. Get the exact section and subdivision as booked, not a description of what happened.
2. Ask whether any enhancement is attached, and whether there are strike priors on the record.
3. Check for warrants and holds before anyone pays — how to check for a warrant.
4. Ask whether § 1270.1 applies, because it decides whether a reduction is even possible tonight.

Questions we get asked most

Is criminal threats a felony in California?

Penal Code 422 is a wobbler, chargeable as a felony or a misdemeanour. Charged as a felony it is a serious felony and therefore a strike.

Does anyone have to be hurt?

No. The offence is the threat itself, provided it meets the statutory requirements and placed the person threatened in sustained fear.

Why is the bail so high for a case with no physical contact?

Because as a felony it is a serious felony and a strike, and because reductions below the county schedule for serious felonies require a finding of unusual circumstances under Penal Code 1275(c).

Can the person who was threatened drop it?

No. Filing decisions belong to the District Attorney, not to the complaining witness.

Related resources

All bail services · Felony bail · Orange County bail schedule · How bail schedules work · Bail reduction hearings · Can bail be denied? · Find an inmate