The Efficacy, of the California Stalking Law: Surveying Its Evolution, Extracting Insights from Domestic Violence Cases
![handle is hein.journals/haswo6 and id is 369 raw text is: The Efficacy of the California Stalking Law:
Surveying Its Evolution, Extracting Insights from
Domestic Violence Cases
Tatia Jordan*
The right to be left alone is the most comprehensive
of rights and the right most valued by civilized [people].
-Justice Louis Brandeis
I. Introduction
In 1990, California became the first state to pass anti-stalking
legislation.1 The rush of other states to quickly pass similar legislation in
the succeeding four years is evidence that stalking is becoming an
increasingly common crime in our society and has come to the fore of the
public conscience.2 Indeed, since 1990, forty-eight states have enacted
anti-stalking statutes.3 Further, in 1993, United States Senator Barbara
Boxer (D-California) co-sponsored a bill to make stalking a federal
crime.4
The attentive legislative response to this crime may be prompted in
part by the celebrity status of some of the victims of stalking. Although
celebrities account for only seventeen percent of all stalking cases,5 their
visibility attracts heavy publicity. In addition, a growing number of
* The author is a third year law student at the University of California, Hastings
College of the Law. B.A., University of California, Berkeley, 1991. I wish to thank the
Hastings Women's Law Journal Board and second year members for your thoughtful
editing. Also, thank you to Leon Page of Assembly Member Brooks Firestone's office for
your generous help. And finally, I wish to extend a special thanks to Francisco Javier
Lira, for your love, patience and support.
1. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Project to Develop a ModelAnti-
Stalking Code for States 12 (1993) [hereinafter Model Code].
2. Id.
3. Id. at 13.
4. Antistalking Proposals: Hearing on Combating Stalking and Family Violence Before
the Senate Comm. on the Judiciary, 103d Cong., 1st Sess. 13 (1993) [hereinafter
Combating Stalking Hearing] (statement of Sen. Barbara Boxer).
5. Antistalking Legislation: Hearing on S. 2922 Before the Senate Comm. on the
Judiciary, 102d Cong., 2d Sess. 5 (1992) [hereinafter Antistalking Hearing].
HASTINGS WOMEN'S LAW JOURNAL](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/haswo6&div=26&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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The Efficacy, of the California Stalking Law: Surveying Its Evolution, Extracting Insights from Domestic Violence Cases
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