What is the test for a motion of contempt brought under the Penal Code against a defendant who has been found guilty of contempt of court?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Safer v. Superior Court, 124 Cal.Rptr. 174, 15 Cal.3d 230, 540 P.2d 14 (Cal. 1975):

'Contemptuous conduct, though a public wrong, often strikes at the most vulnerable and human qualities of a judge's temperament. Even where the contempt is not a direct insult to the court or the judge, it frequently represents a rejection of judicial authority, or an interference with the judicial process or with the duties of officers of the court.' (Bloom v. Illinois, supra, 391 U.S. at p. 202, 88 S.Ct. at p. 1482.) The judge, of course, will have uppermost in his mind the need for preserving the dignity and authority of the court; the jury may add to these considerations a sense of the needs of the community as a whole. Thus the attempted transformation of contempt proceedings brought under the Penal Code into a prosecution under the Code of Civil Procedure achieves a possible reduction of punishment only at the cost of a cherished protection. We hold that the district attorney does not have the power to force the defendants to make such an exchange. 22

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