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Abstract: 

The National Center for Victims of Crime assembled a 23 member advisory board, including your editor, its own staff, and a consultant to re-examine desirable revisions in state stalking codes. Its goal was to inform states (including territories and tribes) on what statutory provisions work, and particularly to let states know where there are gaps in their stalking codes. The aim was not to create a model statute for each state to adapt, although some states will undoubtedly use the model code that way. The report, The Model Stalking Code Revisited: Responding to the New Realities of Stalking, starts by reminding people that “[s]talking is a crime of intimidation and psychological terror that often escalates into violence against its victims. Stalkers can destroy the lives of victims, terrorizing them through a course of conduct that may include monitoring, following, threatening, or harassing victims in a variety of ways.” Stalking “often has devastating consequences for victims” forcing many of them “to profoundly alter their lives.”

Keywords: Examples of Stalking Behaviors That State Laws Might Cover

Affiliations:  1: Editor, Domestic Violence Report.