Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

A "Johnson waiver" is not a sex offender, but a method by which a criminal defendant is placed on probation under certain conditions. A defendant who commits a felony is sometimes offered a Johnson waiver, and in exchange he gets probation plus some county jail time instead of going straight to prison. The reason for the Johnson waiver is to get around the one-year limit on total county jail time for a single felony (Penal Code � 19.2, see People v. Arnold (2004) 33 Cal.4th 294). The waiver enables the judge to send him back to county jail when he violates probation, instead of the judge being forced by law to send him to state prison.

Unfortunately this can be a bad deal for people who can't stop reoffending (like loser-husband). A defendant who is intent on doing what we call "life on the installment plan" can end up doing more county jail time than he would have done prison time without the waiver.

A Johnson waiver is a waiver of credits for time served. That means he does not get credit for any time served in jail, and instead has to serve the 90 days.

In Johnson, the court held that a defendant may waive custody credits pursuant to Penal Code section 2900.5. ((People v. Johnson (1978) 82 Cal.App.3d 183, 188-189.) A Johnson waiver allows the trial court to avoid the one-year statutory limitation on county jail sentences, thereby allowing the court to impose additional jail time as a condition of probation. (Id. at pp. 185, 188-189; see also Pen. Code, � 19.2.) A Johnson waiver may be made for other sentencing considerations as well. (People v. Salazar (1994) 29 Cal.App.4th 1550, 1553.)