A conviction under Penal Code 182(a)(1) sentencing rules carries the same punishment as the crime the conspirators agreed to commit. If the target was a felony, you face that felony’s sentencing triad and fine range. If the target was a misdemeanor or one of the other acts the statute covers, the ceiling is one year in county jail, a term under PC 1170(h), a fine up to $10,000, or both. The planned crime does not have to have happened.1California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 182 – Conspiracy
How the Sentence Is Set
The statute pegs your punishment to the target offense. When the object of the conspiracy is a felony, the court determines the degree of that felony and sentences you as if you had committed it. If the felony carries different punishment for different degrees, the jury or judge decides which degree you conspired to commit, and the sentencing triad for that degree applies.1California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 182 – Conspiracy
When the object is a non-felony offense, or one of the other acts described in the statute such as defrauding another person or obstructing justice, the exposure is up to one year in county jail, a term under PC 1170(h), a fine of up to $10,000, or both jail and the fine. Conspiring to commit a misdemeanor can therefore carry more punishment than the misdemeanor itself.1California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 182 – Conspiracy
What the Prison Range Actually Looks Like
Because the sentence mirrors the target crime, the range is enormous. A conspiracy to commit a low-level felony can resolve in county jail measured in months. A conspiracy to commit murder exposes you to 25 years to life in state prison, the same sentence as murder itself.1California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 182 – Conspiracy
Between those poles, judges pick from the sentencing triad attached to the target felony. That usually means a low, middle, and high term. Violence or a serious public safety risk pushes toward the upper term. A minor role, a clean record, or other mitigation pushes toward the low term. The court weighs those against any aggravating circumstances before settling on a specific number of years.
Fines, Restitution, and the Real Cost of the Fine
Fines follow the same mirroring rule. A felony conspiracy carries the target felony’s maximum fine. A non-felony conspiracy is capped at $10,000. There is one carve-out: a felony conviction for conspiring to commit identity theft allows a fine of up to $25,000.1California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 182 – Conspiracy
Every felony conviction also carries a mandatory restitution fine between $300 and $10,000, set by the court based on the seriousness of the offense. Where there are identifiable victims, a separate restitution order covers their actual losses, and victim restitution takes priority over other financial penalties.2California Legislative Information. California Code Penal Code PEN 1202.4 – Restitution
The base fine in the statute is only the starting figure. California layers penalty assessments on top: a state penalty, court construction penalty, DNA fund penalty, county penalty, a potential emergency medical services assessment, and a 20% state surcharge. In practice the combined add-ons run to roughly four times the base fine. A $10,000 base fine can reach $40,000 or more once the assessments are applied.3Judicial Council of California. Uniform Bail and Penalty Schedules 2026
Enhancements That Stack On Top
Aggravated White Collar Crime
Conspiracies involving large-scale fraud or embezzlement can trigger PC 186.11. The enhancement applies when a defendant is convicted of two or more related fraud or embezzlement felonies in a single case, involving a pattern of related conduct, with total losses over $100,000.4California Legislative Information. California Code Penal Code PEN 186.11 – Aggravated White Collar Crime
The added prison time turns on the dollar amount. Losses over $100,000 but under $500,000 add a term calculated under PC 12022.6, ranging from one to two years. Losses over $500,000 add two, three, or five years in state prison. The enhancement runs consecutively to the underlying sentence, and it disqualifies you from county jail time, so the sentence must be served in state prison.4California Legislative Information. California Code Penal Code PEN 186.11 – Aggravated White Collar Crime
Prior Strikes
Prior convictions can transform the sentence. One prior serious or violent felony doubles the term for a new felony. Two or more prior serious or violent strikes, combined with a new serious or violent felony, trigger an indeterminate sentence of 25 years to life.5California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 667 – Prior Conviction Enhancements
After voters passed Proposition 36 in 2012, a third strike that is not itself a serious or violent felony no longer automatically triggers life. The sentence is doubled instead. Exceptions still apply for certain drug, sex, and firearms felonies, and for defendants with prior convictions for particularly serious offenses like homicide or child molestation, who remain exposed to 25 to life regardless of the current charge.6Legislative Analyst’s Office. Proposition 36 – Three Strikes Law Sentencing for Repeat Felony Offenders
What Moves the Judge Up or Down the Triad
Within the sentencing range, three things drive the specific number.
Role in the conspiracy. Courts distinguish the organizer from the peripheral participant. If you recruited others, planned the operation, or controlled the group, expect the court to treat you as the most culpable participant, and expect the upper term. A minor participant who joined late, contributed little, or acted under someone else’s direction generally receives a lighter sentence. Two co-defendants in the same case can end up with very different terms.
Criminal history. Prior felony convictions push the court toward harsher terms even short of a formal strike enhancement. A clean record pushes the other way.
Additional counts. Conspiracy is rarely charged alone. Prosecutors typically file the conspiracy count alongside the target crime and any related offenses such as weapons or drug charges. When multiple convictions result, sentences can run consecutively, stacking time across counts. Additional charges also shape plea bargaining, since defendants sometimes plead to the conspiracy count in exchange for dismissal of more serious underlying counts, or the reverse.
Probation and Split Sentences
Probation is possible for some conspiracy convictions, particularly where the target offense was non-violent and the defendant has limited criminal history. The court weighs the nature of the conspiracy, the defendant’s background, and whether probation serves public safety before granting it. First-time offenders in lower-level conspiracies have the strongest case.
For defendants who are not eligible for straight probation but whose offense qualifies for sentencing under PC 1170(h), the court can impose a split sentence: a period in county jail followed by mandatory community supervision, handled by the county rather than state parole. A split sentence is not available where an enhancement such as the aggravated white collar enhancement requires state prison.
Consequences That Travel With the Sentence
Two collateral consequences often carry more weight than the courtroom sentence itself, and both attach automatically at conviction.
Professional licenses. If you hold a license in real estate, healthcare, law, accounting, contracting, or dozens of other regulated fields, a conspiracy conviction gives the licensing board grounds to suspend or revoke it. The standard is whether the crime is substantially related to the duties of your profession. A financial professional convicted of conspiracy to commit fraud faces near-certain license action. Even if you later obtain expungement under PC 1203.4, the licensing board can still use the conviction as a basis for discipline.7California Legislative Information. California Business and Professions Code 490 – Conviction of Crime
Immigration status. For noncitizens, federal immigration law treats conspiracy to commit an aggravated felony as itself an aggravated felony.8Legal Information Institute. 8 USC 1101(a)(43) – Aggravated Felony Definition That triggers mandatory deportation, cuts off most relief including asylum and cancellation of removal, and results in mandatory detention without bond. Conspiracy convictions that do not rise to aggravated felony status may still qualify as crimes involving moral turpitude, with their own deportation and inadmissibility consequences. The immigration effect of any plea should be analyzed before it is entered.
A felony conspiracy conviction also strips firearm rights and, during the sentence, suspends voting rights in California, and it appears on background checks used by employers and landlords.