Stalking in Australia - From Past to Present

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Seminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject Law - Comparative Legal Systems, Comparative Law, grade: Credit, University of South Australia, course: Australian Law of Crime, 35 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: In 1989, Robert John Bardo, an obsessed fan, killed actress Rebecca Schaeffer near her apartment in Los Angeles, U. S. A. He did so after having stalked her for several months, writing numerous letters and travelling from Tucson, Arizona, to Los Angeles, California, three times in attempts to speak with her .Soon afterwards, five Californian women were harassed and killed by their ex-intimates against whom they had obtained restraining orders .In both the celebrity stalking case and the domestic violence cases, the police were unable to intervene since the men – until the time of the killings – had not offended any criminal law. Aware of this “inadequacy of current law” the Californian Legislator acted and introduced the first anti-stalking legislation in 1990 .Similar incidents in other American states soon led to amendments of other legislations. The ‘domino effect’ started, spreading nationwide at first, but then gaining ground and becoming international . This research paper concentrates on stalking in Australia. Firstly, it will present a general definition of stalking, followed by a short overview of empirical research into this issue. It will then – chronologically – examine the different anti-stalking legislations in this country. After such having gained a grasp of the concept of stalking in Australia, one can start to compare the various legislations. Moreover, the research paper concerns present threats of stalking and thus bridges from the past (the 1990s) to the present (the 21st century)!