Stalking and Harassment Offences

Q1.

Introduction

The offence of stalking and harassment is something that can be observed on a wide range nowadays and at the same time, several updated and amended legislations have been implemented in order to counter the happening of several kinds of stalking and harassment which essentially involves the stalking and harassment on the social media or formally termed as ‘cyber stalking or crime against women’. In this section of the problem question, we shall cite whether a crime of stalking and harassment has been committed and discuss the details of the legislations on the subject in order to assess the given case study better. For students seeking criminology dissertation help, understanding the intricacies of stalking and harassment laws is crucial for comprehensive analysis and effective research.

Identifying the legal problems or the relevant legal issues

From the limited information that has been provided in the given case study, it can be observed that after Miss Kim ended a two years relationship with one Mr. Robert, he started acting suspiciously and started calling and texting Miss Kim repeatedly, despite of not getting any reply from Miss Kim’s side. Also, Robert had visited the apartment of Miss Kim, unsolicited for more than five times and each time Miss Kim had asked him to ‘go away’. Mr. Robert also visited the office of Miss Kim, unsolicited and he had posted on his social media, blaming Miss Kim for destroying his life.

Hence, from the abovementioned case study, two questions come to the surface:

Whether Mr. Robert had committed a crime of stalking and harassment under the due law of the country by continuously texting, calling and attending her apartment and work, unsolicited?

Whether Mr. Rober had committed a crime in the nature of cyber harassment by posting the photo of Miss Kim and threatening therefore to end his life?

In answer to both of these questions, it can be stated that both stalking and harassment and online or cyber harassment offences have been committed by Mr. Robert and for the purpose of providing a strong base therein, we shall further discuss about the details of legislations and relevant case laws that govern the abovementioned offences.

Relevant Legislations

United Kingdom has an age-old legislation to govern the incidents of stalking and harassment but recently the same has been amended to a better distinguished legislation in order to curb the statistics of 1 in 5 women being a victim of stalking with more than 73% of 1616 prosecutions, coming from the background of domestic violence or any kind of romantic relationships (Atkins, 2019).

Protection from Harassment Act, 1997

The protection from Harassment Act, 1997 provides with three kinds of stalking that are defined under section 2A(1), 4A(1)(b)(i) and 4A(b)(ii). The Protection from Harassment Act, 1997 defines stalking under section 2A(1), which has been inserted by the Protection of Freedom Act, 2012, as a course of conducts that tantamount to harassment and such activity shall include repeated following, contacting or attempting to contact, monitoring or interfering a person or into a person’s life. This definition essentially includes cyber stalking as well.

Stalking Protection Act, 2019

In the year of 2012, after the statistics of crime against women in England saw an upsurge, the legislators of the country sensed the need of a new legislation which would deal with the events of stalking and the punishment of such crime thereof (Htun & Francesca, 2020). Hence, the Stalking Protection Act, 2019 was passed for the purpose of better implementation of strict actions to be taken against reports of stalking. Under section 1 of this Act of 2019, a victim through a police officer can apply for a stalking protection order against the defendant.

Malicious Communications Act, 1988

Currently, United Kingdom does not have any separated law to govern the incidents of cyber or online harassment. However, in order to prove an act on the online world to be a criminal offence, a person can seek resort of section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act, 1998 covers and governs any message that are sent to any person through any electronic communication medium in the nature of threat.

Relevant Case Laws

Thomas v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2001] EWCA Civ 1233

In the instant case is one of the important case laws or ruling of England that discards the claim of the Respondent that the word harassment used in the Act is not defined well and it is needed to be given certain perimeters. However, Lord Philip was of the view that the word harassment in the context of stalking under section 2A of the Act of 1997 is self-explanatory.

Lau v DPP [2000] Crim LR 580 at 581

In the abovementioned case, the degree of harassment was commented by Lord Ormerod. It was reiterated in under this case law that a course of conduct that only happened once or twice shall not be considered as a harassment. Hence, for the purpose of establishing a course of conduct to be categorized under harassment, it needs to be repeated for such an amount of time that it produces or shows the elements of a pattern.

R. v Constanza, [1997] 2 Cr. App. R. 492

In this instant case, it was held that stalking shall not only be a criminal offence but liability in the nature of tort can simultaneously arise if the victim of such stalking suffers from any physical or mental disability of any kind herein.

Osman v. United Kingdom, 23452/94 [1998] ECHR 101

In the instant case, it was held that in view of the recent happening of the stalking cases and the reports therein, it is inherently the duty of the police of the Untied Kingdom to hold a proper investigation and get the accused arrest or else the police would be potentially be liable for breaching article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR).

Van Colle v The United Kingdom, ECHR 13 Nov 2012

In this instant case, the European Court against strengthen the legal liability of the police in case of stalking or harassment case and if the victim dies due to the police authority’s inaction, it shall be considered as a potential legal liability on part of the police authority herein.

Hence, from the abovementioned discussion on the point of law, legislations and case laws, it can be decided and deducted that in the given case problem, Miss Kim has been subjected to stalking and harassment (Finch, 2001) and thus, the investigation officer shall proceed with the investigation proceeding accordingly in order to understand and build a proper case that would safeguard the victim from being stalked and harassed.

Q2.

At the onset of the investigation of the given stalking and harassment case, there are protocols according to the Associations of Chief Police Officers of England and Wales (2021) that needs to be followed accordingly. From the limited information that has been collected from the given case problem, the investigation procedure and the relevant procedure thereof shall be drafted accordingly. After being completed with the proper investigation procedure, we shall attempt at adding more in-depth critical evaluation which shall be accompanied by several recommendation and suggestions of various kinds herein.

Investigation Protocol

For the purpose of initiating investigation in the instant case, the investigation officer shall first need to take care of the victim, who is in a vulnerable state, and provide her with primary support system.

Firstly, the investigation or the police officers shall ensure that the victim has been given contact of special and relevant support services such as MAPPA/MARAC through third party referral, if needed. The Victim’s Code, 2020 shall be followed by the police and the investigation officer shall take the Victim Personal Statement (VPS).

The other witnesses of such event or incident, if any, should be provided with necessary information regarding the special measures such as court protection etc. (Lawson-Cruttenden & Addison, 1997) shall be granted, if the court permits, to the witnesses thereof.

Thirdly, a witness care team shall be crafted in order to make the witness of the instant case and the victim to be familiarized with the court environment and how they should act under the court decorum therein (Lawson-Cruttenden & Addison, 1997).

Hence, the investigation of any stalking and harassment case shall always start with the victims being taken care of properly and that the victims and the witnesses have been referred to the right support service groups in order to understand the mental and physical condition of the victim better and provide better assessment to the whole case in general.

Investigation Process and Evidence Collection

The second step of this instant case is to collect proper evidence in order to strategize the case in favor of the victim and understand the perspective of the case better. Thus, for the purpose of initiating a strong strategy to build a proper case in favor of the victim, we shall start with the evidence collection process.

The investigation officer in case of stalking shall try to identify a pattern of harassment to establish a proper case. As it has been given in the case study that Miss Kim was visited by Roberts several times at her home and her workplace. She has a special notification system installed at home which shall be given to the police officer as evidence that the Robert had visited her home several time to make it a pattern and eventually at her workplace where there were several witnesses.

Hence, in the first step, the investigation officer shall collect any particular notification or picture when Robert visited Miss Kim at her house and collect all the text records and call records of Robert for a considerable time period. Also, the CCTV of the street in front of Miss Kim’s house or in opposite of her house shall be checked to understand the gravity of the stalking behavior of Mr. Robert, the defendant.

The investigation officer shall take the screenshots of the online behaviors, any posts or any pictures which have certain threatening element addressed to Miss Kim and the same shall be adduced as evidence to build a strong case in favor of the victim before the court of law.

Any fingerprints, if present shall be collected by the police officer or the investigation officer and the call list, Gmail and other electronic devices of the suspect should be examined carefully to understand whether the evidence collected from the victims are not manipulated and, in this way, it would be easier for investigation officer to pin-point the respondent and present him before the court.

The statements from several witnesses shall be taken into account by the investigation officer and the criminal background check of the respondent should be made as well.

Addressing the Risk and assess further – recommendations and advice

In the case of stalking and harassment, it is often the victim’s vulnerable state of mind that poses as a risk to a conclusive case. However, in the given case, that is not a problem but the risk in this case is that Mr. Robert is acting contradicting which shows that this person can be capable of creating or committing any kind of violence where the victim would be safe physically. Hence, to address the risk and the assess the same, the victim should be DASH and stalking risk screening toll should be used in order to provide the investigation officer with a comprehend picture of the case.

The victim’s view on bail and restraining order shall be taken into account and as such before the Police can appeal before the magistrate under the Stalking Protection Act, 2019, the draft of such restraining order or bail, if any, should be checked by the victim the victim’s needs are to be addressed properly.

While the procedure in the case of stalking or any kind of harassment provides smooth transition, it is critically evaluated and discussed that the whole thing could have been done through more directly and that the police authority should have their own unit of victim support which would make the whole procedure better.

Conclusion

It is true that the cases of stalking are increasing but it is also true that more and more reports of stalking are being submitted to the police station. Hence, it can be seen that the society is slowly progressing in reference to stalking and women are finally taking their stand.

Dig deeper into Societal Impact in a Comparative Analysis of Canada and the United States with our selection of articles.

REFERENCE LIST

Atkins, Victoria (2019). "Government backed Stalking Protection Bill receives Royal Assent". GOV.UK.

Associations of Chielf Police Officers (2020). Protocol on the appropriate handling of stalking offences between the Crown Prosecution Service & ACPO [accessed on 12th Sept, 2021] < https://www.cps.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/legal_guidance/stalking-protocol.pdf >

Burrows, John, and Roger Tarling (1987). “The Investigation Of Crime In England And Wales.” The British Journal of Criminology, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 229–251.

Finch, Emily (2001). The Criminalisation of Stalking. Cavendish, London, 2nd edn.

Htun, Mala, and Francesca R. Jensenius (2020). “Fighting Violence Against Women: Laws, Norms & Challenges Ahead.” Daedalus, vol. 149, no. 1, pp. 144–159.

Lawson-Cruttenden, Timothy; Addison, Neil (1997). Blackstone's Guide to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Blackstone Press Limited, London, 3rd edn.