A. Except as otherwise prescribed in section 13-3411, a person who is convicted of a felony offense that is committed in a school safety zone is guilty of the same class of felony that the person would otherwise be guilty of if the violation had not occurred within a school safety zone, except that the court may impose a sentence that is one year longer than the minimum, maximum and presumptive sentence for that violation if the person is not a criminal street gang member or up to five years longer than the minimum, maximum and presumptive sentence for that violation if the person is a criminal street gang member. The additional sentence imposed under this subsection is in addition to any other enhanced punishment that may be applicable under section 13-703, section 13-704, section 13-706, section 13-708, subsection D or chapter 34 of this title.

Ask a criminal law question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a criminal defense lawyer and protect your rights.

Terms Used In Arizona Laws 13-709

  • Criminal street gang: means an ongoing formal or informal association of persons in which members or associates individually or collectively engage in the commission, attempted commission, facilitation or solicitation of any felony act and that has at least one individual who is a criminal street gang member. See Arizona Laws 13-105
  • Criminal street gang member: means an individual to whom at least two of the following seven criteria that indicate criminal street gang membership apply:

    (a) Self-proclamation. See Arizona Laws 13-105

  • Felony: means an offense for which a sentence to a term of imprisonment in the custody of the state department of corrections is authorized by any law of this state. See Arizona Laws 13-105
  • Person: means a human being and, as the context requires, an enterprise, a public or private corporation, an unincorporated association, a partnership, a firm, a society, a government, a governmental authority or an individual or entity capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property. See Arizona Laws 13-105
  • Property: means anything of value, tangible or intangible. See Arizona Laws 13-105
  • Vehicle: means a device in, upon or by which any person or property is, may be or could have been transported or drawn upon a highway, waterway or airway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Arizona Laws 13-105

B. In addition to any other penalty prescribed by this title, the court may order a person who is subject to subsection A of this section to pay a fine of not less than two thousand dollars and not more than the maximum authorized by chapter 8 of this title.

C. Each school district governing board or its designee, or chief administrative officer in the case of a nonpublic or charter school, may place and maintain permanently affixed signs that are located in a visible manner at the main entrance of each school and that identify the school and its accompanying grounds as a school safety zone. A school may include information regarding the school safety zone boundaries on a sign that identifies the area as a drug free zone and not post separate school safety zone signs.

D. For the purposes of this section:

1. "School" means any public or nonpublic kindergarten program, common school or high school.

2. "School safety zone" means any of the following:

(a) The area within three hundred feet of a school or its accompanying grounds.

(b) Any public property within one thousand feet of a school or its accompanying grounds.

(c) Any school bus.

(d) A bus contracted to transport pupils to any school during the time when the contracted vehicle is transporting pupils on behalf of the school.

(e) A school bus stop.

(f) Any bus stop where school children are awaiting, boarding or exiting a bus contracted to transport pupils to any school.