Charges
Elder Abuse Bail Bonds — PC 368
A charge that covers physical harm, neglect and financial exploitation — three very different situations under one section.
Penal Code § 368 protects elders and dependent adults, and it is broader than most people assume. It reaches physical abuse, neglect and financial exploitation, and it is a wobbler in most forms — so the same section can produce a misdemeanour or a felony depending on the conduct alleged and the harm caused.
Three different cases under one section
| Physical abuse | Wilful infliction of unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering. Where great bodily injury is alleged, the exposure rises sharply. |
| Neglect | Frequently charged against a family member or carer. These cases often involve no intent to harm at all, which families find hardest to accept. |
| Financial exploitation | Theft or embezzlement from an elder. This overlaps directly with fraud and forgery and theft, and the alleged amount drives the figure. |
What moves the bail figure
- Whether it is charged as a felony or a misdemeanour. The gap is large.
- A great bodily injury allegation, which can make the case a serious felony and therefore a strike.
- The alleged loss, on a financial count. Grand theft on the Orange County schedule is $20,000 or the amount of the theft, whichever is higher, so a large alleged loss produces a large figure.
- Strike priors, which take bail to $100,000 for one and $200,000 for two.
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 usually complicates these cases
- A protective order can issue, and where the accused lives with or cares for the elder that can mean they cannot go home. See protective orders and EPOs.
- Adult Protective Services may be involved on a separate track from the criminal case.
- Care arrangements. If the accused was the carer, someone else has to be found — and the court will want to know who.
- Conservatorship questions can run in parallel in a different court entirely.
None of those are bail questions, and none of them are things a bail agency can resolve. Get a defence lawyer early.
What to do first
- Get the exact section and subdivision as booked, not a description of what happened.
- Ask whether any enhancement is attached, and whether there are strike priors on the record.
- Check for warrants and holds before anyone pays — how to check for a warrant.
- Ask whether § 1270.1 applies, because it decides whether a reduction is even possible tonight.
Questions we get asked most
Is elder abuse a felony in California?
Penal Code 368 is a wobbler in most forms, chargeable as a felony or a misdemeanour depending on the conduct alleged and the harm caused.
Does elder abuse have to be physical?
No. The section reaches neglect and financial exploitation as well as physical abuse.
Why is a family member charged when nobody meant any harm?
Neglect cases frequently involve no intent to harm. Whether the elements are met is a question for a defence lawyer, and it is often where these cases turn.
Can the accused go home?
Not necessarily. Where a protective order issues and the accused lives with or cares for the elder, a stay-away term can prevent it even after release.
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
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