California’s Anti-Prowling Law / Prohibition on Unlawful Peeking

What Does “Unlawful Peeking” Mean?

California’s Anti-Prowling Law / Prohibition on Unlawful Peeking

Unlawful peeking, also known as prowling or peeking while loitering, is a misdemeanor crime in California. While this charge is generally associated with lurkers, Peeping Toms, or other unsavory characters, it is not a specific intent crime. That means you can get in trouble with the law even if you did not mean to do something wrong. You should be aware of what California considers unlawful peeking, especially if you often find yourself on private property.

Unlawful Peeking While Loitering

The law is not dependent upon what you see – or are attempting to see – when you look through a window or other opening. Instead, unlawful peeking while loitering is based on your actions.

To convict you on a charge of unlawful peeking while loitering, a California prosecutor must prove that you looked into a window or doors of any inhabited building or structure while delaying, lingering, prowling, or wandering on some other individual’s private property without a lawful reason to be there. Essentially, this means you had to peek into an inhabited building while loitering. That is what is meant by either “delaying, lingering, prowling or wandering.”

Loitering is the part of the law that separates it from various reasons you could legally look into someone else’s window. For example, if you were on your nightly walk and witnessed an emergency in a house as you passed it, it would not be a crime to run up to the window for a better view. Perhaps you were trying to determine if you could help.

Since you were not loitering on private property, you did not commit unlawful peeking in that scenario.

What Is an Inhabited Building or Structure?

The law only criminalizes peeking into an ‘inhabited’ building or structure. That means you can defend yourself against a charge of unlawful peeking while loitering by arguing the place you looked is not inhabited.

In California law, inhabited does not mean that someone had to be home at the time of the incident. Rather, an inhabited building or structure is one that someone is using it to dwell in. If you unlawfully peek into your neighbors’ window late one night, the fact they were not home at the time does not get you off the hook.

Because unlawful peeking while prowling is not a specific intent crime, it does not matter what you were hoping to see or even that you did not think what you were doing was wrong. While most prowlers may be attempting to view an intimate moment or occurrence, simply looking through the window is criminalized so long as you meet all the other criteria.

The Penalties for Unlawful Peeking

Unlawful peeking is always a misdemeanor in California. If you are convicted, the maximum punishment you face includes:

  • A sentence of up to six months in county jail; and,
  • A $1,000 fine.

There is no requirement that you register as a sex offender if convicted. Additionally, a judge has the freedom to have you serve summary probation instead of sending you to prison. Some judges feel that probation in place of jail time is a more just sentence, particularly if this was your first offense and you have a relatively clean criminal record.

Have you been charged with unlawful peeking in Newport Beach, California? Contact the skilled criminal defense team at Chambers Law Firm today. You can schedule a free initial consultation by calling 714-760-4088 or emailing dchambers@clfca.com.

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