California Policy Lab

Sentence enhancements are widely used in California and can greatly increase an individual’s prison sentence, which in turn increases the size of the state’s prison population at a given time as people are incarcerated for longer periods.1 Proposition 8, passed by voters in 1982, provided the first major addition to sentence enhancements in California since the passage of the Determinate Sentencing Act of 1976 (Figure 1). This law created what is colloquially known as the “nickel prior.” As originally written, if a person had previously been convicted of a serious felony offense, the enhancement added an additional five years onto any sentence for a new serious offense,2 regardless of when the earlier conviction had occurred.3 This fact sheet highlights patterns in the use of nickel prior enhancements for people admitted to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) before and after Senate Bill 1393 (SB 1393) took effect in 2019.4 As of August 2023, there are just under 14,000 people currently in prison who have a nickel prior as part of their sentence. Judges initially had discretion in dismissing nickel priors, but this discretion was eliminated by legislation enacted in 1986. Prosecutors retained the power to decide whether to charge nickel prior enhancements and if they chose to use the enhancement, it became mandatory for a judge to apply. However, prosecutors did not always charge eligible cases or would agree to dismiss the nickel prior as part of a plea bargain, resulting in eligible prison admissions that did not receive the enhancement. In 2019, SB 1393 reinstated judicial discretion to dismiss nickel priors “in furtherance of justice.” Since 2015, the nickel prior has been the second most common sentence enhancement (after the second strike enhancement) used in California for people admitted to prison. Over 11,600 admissions to prison had a nickel prior enhancement, which accounted for 11% of additional years added to base sentences, or over 58,000 years.5

This work has been supported, in part, by the University of California Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives grants MRP-19-600774 and M21PR3278.