Following someone against their wishes or causing a physical or emotional harm is termed as stalking. Stalking is considered as a criminal offense, be it physical or electronic like phone calls, text messages or emails. In the past, most of these cases involved harassment of celebrities. Majority of such crimes involved domestic partners, separated spouses or pre-existing relationship of some kind. So, stalking is often related to domestic violence.
Stalking laws:
In most states, stalking laws refer to the crime involving a person following, harassing or making the victim fear for his or her safety. The offender may be a stranger or a known person. In such cases, protective or restraining order may be issued and the offender would be asked to remain away from the victim for a specific period of time. Also, penalties for violating these orders would be very severe. Every state has its own definition of stalking and its penalties.
For instance, Louisiana crimes penalties for stalking vary widely based on the repetition of the act or the history of crimes of the accused. As per Louisiana’s anti-stalking statutes, the punishment may vary from imprisonment for 90 days minimum to 3 years depending on the damage caused , weapons used or physical injury occurred. If the victim is below the age of 12 years, the punishment would be more severe. Penalty for repeat offense would increase their imprisonment period or the fine amount or both.
To be more definitive, these unwanted actions must continue over time to be considered as the crime of stalking. In many cases, stalking would need to be connected with other actions to get the full picture of the offense. Though differing between state to state and country to country, physical stalking or cyberstalking is considered as a serious crime and victims are encouraged to bring the problem to light which would bring them justice and mental peace.
