Key facts about Stalking

Title Your Name Subject and Section Professor’s name Date Stalking is a course of conduct that includes unwanted and harassing behavior that tends to cause fear in the individual being stalked and presents a significant concern to the criminal justice system. Unlike mere stalking, which is unappreciated and uninvited contact, it becomes a dangerous process where the stalker could subject the victim to grave danger. This danger is effectively illustrated by the tragic death of Rebecca Schaeffer, who was later shot dead in 1989 by an obsessed fan who traced her by the use of private details from a detective agency. This was both the precipitating incident of the murderous potential of stalking and the specific instance that pushed the United States toward the passage of comprehensive anti-stalking statutes. Her death stimulated the legislative process that culminated in the enactment of the first recognizable anti-stalking law in California. This legislative wave happened quickly across the nation, which then meant that there was a change in how stalking was considered and pursued in the entire country. Schaeffer was a young actress in the process of becoming a popular star of “My Sister Sam,” who became a victim of a mentally ill fan Robert John Bardo. Bardo got fixated on Schaeffer and attempted to meet her in various circumstances. Seeing the lack of reasonable precautions concerning personal information at that time, Bardo decided to employ detectives and, with the help of records received from the California Department of Motor Vehicles, found Schaeffer’s home address. Consequently, Schaeffer’s privacy was breached. Before committing the murder, Bardo went to Schaeffer’s apartment in Los Angeles where she resided and shot her dead (History.com Editors, 2020). This case painted a graphic picture of acute weaknesses in the police’s ability to protect those in the line of stalking. It should also be noted that at that time, there were no laws that could have been applied to stop Bardo from getting hold of Schaeffer's address or to apprehend him despite the evident indicators of the nature of his violent obsessions. Specifically, the inability to ensure the protection of the subject's data and the absence of a legal provision that could address stalking behaviors became critical factors for this fatal outcome (History.com, 2020). Schaeffer's gruesome murder led to significant legislative reform, beginning with California's first anti-stalking law enacted in 1990, known as California Penal Code Section 646. 9 (California Penal Code, 2023). This legislative response quickly disseminated across all states and set out the total incorporation of the anti-stalking provisions in the Violence Against Women's Act (VAWA) 1994. These legislative actions highlighted the need for specific law...