Helping Incarcerated Survivors Through Legislation

• On January 1, 2002, the Legislature enacted Penal Code § 1473.5 to allow women incarcerated for killing their abusers to file writs challenging their sentences with evidence about battering and its effects.
• On May 8th, 2003, the Assembly Select Committee on Domestic Violence convened a legislative hearing to examine obstacles to implementing PC §1473.5. One of the effects of the hearing was new legislation to extend the sunset clause of PC §1473.5 from Jan. 1 2005 to Jan. 1, 2010 so more women could file PC §1473.5 writ petitions.
• Based on its outreach efforts, the Habeas Project realized that PC § 1473.5 was still unduly restrictive. Accordingly, in 2004, it began to pursue an ambitious goal: to draft and win passage for legislation to make more survivors eligible for habeas relief. The bill, authored by then Senate Pro Tem John Burton, was introduced on the Senate Floor as SB1385. With over 40 letters of support from organizations and several hundred letters from individuals, SB1385 overwhelmingly passed through the Senate and Assembly with bi-partisan support. On September 17, 2004, Governor Schwarzennegger signed SB1385 into law.
• SB1385 went into effect January 1, 2005.