AB 600 California Resentencing Law: Who Qualifies and How to File

California’s AB 600 resentencing law, in effect since January 1, 2025, lets a judge recall and reduce a California felony sentence whenever the sentencing law has changed since the original conviction, and it starts from the presumption that a reduction is appropriate unless the person currently poses an unreasonable danger to public safety. It amended Penal Code Section 1172.1 and applies to felony convictions across the board, not just to a narrow list of offenses.

Who Qualifies

AB 600 is offense-neutral. There is no list of qualifying crimes and no carve-out that limits relief to drug cases or nonviolent felonies. Any felony sentence can potentially be recalled if the legal landscape has shifted since the original sentencing.¹

The trigger is a change in sentencing law. If the statute that governed the original sentence has since been amended to reduce penalties or give judges more discretion, the court can revisit that sentence. Changes made through case law count too. When resentencing occurs, the court must apply any changes that reduce sentences or expand judicial discretion, with the stated goal of eliminating sentencing disparities and promoting uniformity.²

Age of the conviction is not a barrier. The Legislature made clear that ameliorative laws and court decisions allowing discretionary relief apply regardless of the date of the offense or conviction.¹ A decades-old sentence can qualify if the underlying law has since become less severe. The person also does not need to still be in custody for resentencing to proceed.

Who Can Start the Process

This is where AB 600 catches many people off guard: an incarcerated person cannot file a resentencing petition on their own under this statute. The process starts one of two ways.

The court can act on its own motion within 120 days of the original commitment date, or at any time if the sentencing laws that applied at the original sentencing have since changed through legislation or case law.³ AB 600 also clarified that resentencing may be initiated by the original sentencing judge, a judge designated by the presiding judge, or any judge with jurisdiction over the case.⁴

Outside that 120-day window, a recommendation has to come from an authorized official: the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or the Board of Parole Hearings for someone in state prison, the county correctional administrator for someone in county jail, the district attorney of the county where the person was sentenced, or the Attorney General if the case was originally prosecuted by the Department of Justice.³

What the Court Weighs

When a resentencing proceeding is underway, the statute requires the court to look at postconviction factors that go well beyond the original crime:

The person’s disciplinary record and rehabilitation while incarcerated
Whether age, time served, or diminished physical condition has reduced the risk of future violence
Evidence that continued incarceration no longer serves the interests of justice
Evidence that the person’s constitutional rights were violated in the original proceedings, or other evidence undermining the integrity of the conviction or sentence
Whether the person experienced psychological, physical, or childhood trauma, including abuse, neglect, exploitation, sexual violence, intimate partner violence, or human trafficking, before or at the time of the offense
Whether the person was a youth at the time of the offense, and whether that was a contributing factor

The constitutional-rights provision is one of AB 600’s more significant additions. A rights violation from the original trial or sentencing can itself weigh in favor of ending continued incarceration.³

The Presumption in Favor of a Reduced Sentence

Once resentencing is underway, the law presumes the sentence should be reduced. The court is expected to grant resentencing unless it finds the person currently poses an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety, using the definition in Penal Code Section 1170.18(c).³

The word “currently” is doing real work. The court looks at the risk the person poses now, not the severity of the original offense, and past criminal history alone is not enough to overcome the presumption. AB 600 changed the language from a general public safety finding to one requiring that the danger be present-tense and unreasonable. If the court cannot make that finding, the presumption controls and resentencing should proceed.¹

What a Judge Can Actually Do

A resentencing court has two options. It can reduce the prison term by modifying the sentence directly, or it can vacate the original conviction entirely and impose judgment on a lesser included or lesser related offense, then resentence on that reduced charge. The second option requires the defendant’s agreement.³

One firm limit: the new sentence cannot be greater than the original. The court resentences as if the person had never been sentenced before, applying current law, but is capped at the original term. Resentencing runs in one direction only.²

AB 600 also gave courts explicit authority to reconsider prior strike enhancements during resentencing. The Legislature declared that courts have full discretion to revisit those decisions and referenced the factors from People v. Superior Court (Romero), stating that the list from that case is not exhaustive.² Someone serving a heavily inflated sentence because of prior strikes can have those enhancements reconsidered.

How to Get a Request Started

Because the incarcerated person cannot file directly, the practical path is to ask an authorized office to make the recommendation. That usually means writing to the district attorney’s office in the county of conviction, to CDCR, or to the Board of Parole Hearings. Some county DA offices run conviction review units that identify cases where resentencing may be appropriate.

Once a recommendation comes in from an authorized official, the statute sets the clock. The court must notify the defendant and schedule a status conference within 30 days of receiving the request, and the same order must appoint counsel.³

Victims have a defined role. A victim who wants to be heard must notify the prosecution within 15 days of learning that resentencing is being sought, and the court then provides an opportunity to speak consistent with the California Constitution’s victim rights provisions.³

1
California Legislative Information. California Bill AB-600 – Criminal Procedure: Resentencing
2
California Legislative Information. California Assembly Bill 600 – Criminal Procedure: Resentencing
3
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1172.1
4
Digital Democracy. AB 600 – Criminal Procedure: Resentencing