Second-degree burglary in California is any burglary that does not involve an inhabited home — think stores, offices, warehouses, and locked vehicles entered with the intent to steal or commit another felony inside. It’s a wobbler, which means prosecutors can file it as a misdemeanor carrying up to a year in county jail or as a felony carrying 16 months, two years, or three years. That single charging decision drives almost everything else: fines, probation length, immigration exposure, and how the conviction follows you afterward.
What Counts as Second-Degree Burglary
Two statutes define the offense. Penal Code 459 describes burglary broadly as entering a building, vehicle, railcar, vessel, or similar structure with the intent to commit theft or any felony inside.1California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 459 Penal Code 460 then splits burglary into two degrees. First degree applies only to inhabited dwellings, floating homes, and trailer coaches. Everything else is second degree.2California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 460
In practice, the most common targets are commercial spaces: stores, restaurants, offices. But the statute also reaches locked vehicles, storage containers, railroad cars, and aircraft. Vehicle burglary requires that the doors were locked at the time of entry. If a car is unlocked, taking something out of it is usually charged as theft, not burglary.
One element trips people up. The intent to steal or commit a felony must exist at the moment of entry, not form later. Walking into an open business with no criminal plan and then deciding on impulse to pocket something is theft, not burglary. Prosecutors typically prove entry-level intent through circumstantial evidence like break-in tools, prior casing of the location, or communications showing advance planning.
When Shoplifting Rules Apply Instead
Proposition 47, passed in 2014, carved out an important exception. Penal Code 459.5 reclassifies certain commercial entries as “shoplifting” rather than burglary. If you enter a commercial establishment during regular business hours intending to steal property worth $950 or less, the offense is shoplifting, a misdemeanor, and cannot be charged as burglary.3California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 459.5
The label matters. A burglary conviction, even as a misdemeanor, carries heavier collateral consequences than a shoplifting conviction, especially on employment background checks and professional licensing. But the shoplifting classification has real limits. If the property is worth more than $950, the establishment was closed at the time, or you entered intending to commit a felony other than larceny, Proposition 47 does not apply and the charge goes back to burglary.3California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 459.5 Repeat offenders with certain prior serious or violent felony convictions can also face enhanced sentencing even under the shoplifting statute.
Misdemeanor or Felony: The Wobbler Decision
Because second-degree burglary is a wobbler, the prosecutor picks the level. Several things drive that choice: the value of what was taken or targeted, whether anyone was present, how much planning went into the entry, and your criminal history. A first-time offender who broke into an empty storage unit is more likely to face a misdemeanor than someone with prior theft convictions who forced entry into a business at night.
This flexibility runs both directions. A defense attorney can sometimes negotiate a felony charge down to a misdemeanor before trial. Prosecutors also use the wobbler status as leverage in plea talks. Even after a felony conviction, the judge can reduce the charge to a misdemeanor at sentencing or later under Penal Code 17(b), but that requires a specific motion and is not automatic.
Penalties If You’re Convicted
The concrete consequences depend on the misdemeanor-or-felony choice.
Jail Time
Misdemeanor second-degree burglary carries up to one year in county jail.4California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 461 A felony conviction carries 16 months, two years, or three years. One detail that surprises people: felony second-degree burglary is typically served in county jail, not state prison. It lands you in state prison only if you have prior convictions for serious or violent felonies, or are required to register as a sex offender.5California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 1170 – Section (h)
Fines and Restitution
The burglary statutes do not set their own fine amounts, so Penal Code 672 supplies the default: up to $1,000 for a misdemeanor and up to $10,000 for a felony.6California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 672 On top of any fine, the court must order restitution covering the victim’s actual economic losses, including the value of stolen or damaged property and related expenses.7California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 1202.4 Restitution is separate from the fine and is treated like a civil judgment, so it can be collected even after you finish your sentence.
Probation
Many second-degree burglary convictions result in probation instead of a full jail term, particularly for first-time offenders. AB 1950, which took effect in 2021, shortened maximum probation periods significantly. Felony probation for second-degree burglary now caps at two years, and misdemeanor probation caps at one year.8California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 1203.19California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 1203a Conditions usually include regular check-ins with a probation officer, community service, counseling, and staying away from the burglarized location. Violating any condition can lead to probation being revoked and the original jail sentence imposed.
Effect on Three Strikes and Prior Records
California’s Three Strikes law applies to serious and violent felonies, and second-degree burglary catches a break here. First-degree (residential) burglary is listed as a serious felony under Penal Code 1192.7(c), and it counts as a violent felony under Penal Code 667.5(c) when someone other than an accomplice was present.10California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 667.511California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Definition of Serious Felony Offenses As Specified in Penal Code 1192.7 Second-degree burglary appears on neither list. A felony second-degree burglary conviction is not a strike.
A prior second-degree burglary still affects future sentencing though. If you already have a strike from a different offense, any new felony conviction — second-degree burglary included — triggers the doubled sentence required under the second-strike provisions. And any prior felony can push a prosecutor to file new charges as a felony rather than a misdemeanor.
Immigration Consequences for Noncitizens
A second-degree burglary conviction can create severe immigration problems, and the misdemeanor-versus-felony choice becomes especially critical here. Under federal immigration law, a burglary offense with a sentence of at least one year qualifies as an aggravated felony, which can trigger mandatory deportation with almost no relief available.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1101 – Definitions For immigration purposes, “sentence” includes the full term even if execution is suspended. A three-year suspended sentence counts as a three-year sentence.
Even when the sentence stays under a year, a burglary conviction can still be classified as a crime involving moral turpitude, which creates separate grounds for inadmissibility or deportation depending on how many convictions you have and when the offense occurred. If you’re not a U.S. citizen, the immigration side should shape the defense strategy as much as the criminal side. A plea that looks favorable in criminal court can be devastating in immigration court.
Defenses Commonly Raised
The most effective defense in many second-degree burglary cases attacks the intent element. Prosecutors have to prove you intended to commit theft or a felony at the moment you entered. If you walked into a business for a legitimate reason and a theft happened afterward, the entry itself was not burglarious. Defense attorneys build this argument through evidence of a lawful purpose: receipts, appointments, witness testimony about why you were there.
Mistaken identity comes up often in commercial burglary cases, particularly when the break-in happened after hours with no witnesses. Surveillance footage is frequently grainy, and identifications built from partial images or clothing descriptions are notoriously unreliable. Alibi evidence placing you elsewhere when the burglary occurred can be decisive.
Challenging how evidence was collected is another route. If police searched your home, car, or person without a warrant and without a valid exception, the evidence from that search may be suppressed under the Fourth Amendment’s exclusionary rule. Courts recognize narrow exceptions for evidence that would inevitably have been discovered lawfully, or for officers who relied in good faith on a warrant later found invalid.
Mitigating factors don’t prevent a conviction, but they shape sentencing. A clean record, genuine remorse, voluntary restitution to the victim, and evidence of mental health or substance abuse treatment all give a judge reasons to lean toward probation over incarceration, or misdemeanor over felony treatment.
Clearing the Conviction Later
After completing probation, you can petition to have a second-degree burglary conviction dismissed under Penal Code 1203.4. If the court grants the petition, your guilty plea is withdrawn, a not-guilty plea is entered, and the case is dismissed.13California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 1203.4 To qualify, you must have completed all probation terms, cannot currently be serving a sentence or on probation for another offense, and cannot have pending charges.
An expungement under 1203.4 delivers real benefits. You can legally answer “no” to most private employer questions about criminal convictions, and it removes some licensing barriers. It also has limits. The conviction can still be used to enhance sentencing in future cases, and you remain obligated to disclose it when applying for public office or state professional licenses. A dismissed conviction also does not restore firearm rights.13California Legislative Information. California Code PEN 1203.4 For most people it’s still worth pursuing, because it’s one of the few tools that meaningfully reduces the long tail of a criminal conviction.