CALCRIM No. 1243. Human Trafficking (Pen. Code, § 236.1(a) & (b))
Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions (2024 edition)
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1243.Human Trafficking (Pen. Code, § 236.1(a) & (b))
The defendant is charged [in Count ] with human trafficking [in
violation of Penal Code section 236.1].
To prove that the defendant is guilty of this crime, the People must
prove that:
1. The defendant either deprived another person of personal liberty
or violated that other person’s personal liberty;
AND
<Give Alternative 2A if the defendant is charged with a violation of
subsection (a).>
[2A. When the defendant acted, (he/she) intended to obtain forced
labor or services(./;)]
[OR]
<Give Alternative 2B if the defendant is charged with a violation of
subsection (b).>
[2B. When the defendant acted, (he/she) intended to (commit/ [or]
maintain) a [felony] violation of <insert appropriate code
section[s]>).]
Depriving or violating another person’s personal liberty, as used here,
includes substantial and sustained restriction of another person’s liberty
accomplished through <insert terms that apply from statutory
definition, i.e.: force, fear, fraud, deceit, coercion, violence, duress, menace,
or threat of unlawful injury> to the victim or to another person under
circumstances in which the person receiving or perceiving the threat
reasonably believes that it is likely that the person making the threat
would carry it out.
[Forced labor or services, as used here, means labor or services that are
performed or provided by a person and are obtained or maintained
through force, fraud, duress, or coercion, or equivalent conduct that
would reasonably overbear the will of the person.]
[Duress means a direct or implied threat of force, violence, danger,
hardship, or retribution that is enough to cause a reasonable person to
do [or submit to] something that he or she would not otherwise do [or
submit to].]
[Duress includes (a direct or implied threat to destroy, conceal, remove,
confiscate, or possess any actual or purported passport or immigration
document of the other person/ [or] knowingly destroying, concealing,
1000
removing, confiscating, or possessing any actual or purported passport or
immigration document of the other person).]
[Violence means using physical force that is greater than the force
reasonably necessary to restrain someone.]
[Menace means a verbal or physical threat of harm[, including use of a
deadly weapon]. The threat of harm may be express or implied.]
[Coercion includes any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a
person to believe that failing to perform an act would result in (serious
harm to or physical restraint against someone else/ [or] the abuse or
threatened abuse of the legal process/ [or] debt bondage/ [or] providing
or facilitating the possession of any controlled substance to impair the
other person’s judgment).]
[When you decide whether the defendant (used duress/ [or] used
coercion/ [or] deprived another person of personal liberty or violated that
other person’s personal liberty), consider all of the circumstances,
including the age of the other person, (his/her) relationship to the
defendant [or defendant’s agent[s]], and the other person’s handicap or
disability, if any.]
New August 2009; Revised August 2013, February 2014, October 2021
BENCH NOTES
Instructional Duty
The court has a sua sponte duty to give an instruction defining the elements of the
crime.
If necessary, insert the correct Penal Code section into the blank provided in
element 2B and give the corresponding CALCRIM instruction.
Give bracketed element three if the defendant is charged with a violation of Pen.
Code, § 236.1(c).
This instruction is based on the language of the statute effective November 7, 2012,
and only applies to crimes committed on or after that date.
The court is not required to instruct sua sponte on the definition of “menace” or
“violence” and Penal Code section 236.1 does not define these terms. (People v.
Pitmon (1985) 170 Cal.App.3d 38, 52 [216 Cal.Rptr. 221] [duress]). Optional
definitions are provided for the court to use at its discretion.
AUTHORITY
• Elements and Definitions. Pen. Code, § 236.1.
• Menace Defined [in context of false imprisonment]. People v. Matian (1995) 35
Cal.App.4th 480, 484-486 [41 Cal.Rptr.2d 459].
• Violence Defined [in context of false imprisonment]. People v. Babich (1993) 14
KIDNAPPING CALCRIM No. 1243
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Cal.App.4th 801, 806 [18 Cal.Rptr.2d 60].
RELATED ISSUES
The victim’s consent is irrelevant. (People v. Oliver (2020) 54 Cal.App.5th 1084,
1097 [269 Cal.Rptr.3d 201].)
SECONDARY SOURCES
1 Witkin & Epstein, California Criminal Law (4th ed. 2012) Crimes Against the
Person, § 278.
6 Millman, Sevilla & Tarlow, California Criminal Defense Practice, Ch. 142, Crimes
Against the Person, § 142.14A (Matthew Bender).
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© Judicial Council of California.
