Eye On CameraWare -- feature

Written by: Alynna

A 50-year-old former security guard used the Internet to impersonate a female acquaintance. He appeared in many chatrooms, pretending to be her. He made many postings to bulletin boards, where he published her name, address, and phone number, along with a statement that she had a rape fantasy. On at least six occasions, strange men knocked on her door, offering to rape her. The offender pleaded guilty in April 1999 to one count of stalking and three counts of solicitation to sexual assault.

An honors graduate student in California terrorized five female students through the Internet for more than a year. The ladies received hundreds of hateful and threatening emails, sometimes up to five a day. The student later confessed that he harassed the women, believing they were making fun of him. In fact, they never knew him.

In New Hampshire, a 20-year-old woman was shot and killed by a stalker. He had been in love with her for a decade, imagining her repeated rejections (e.g., brushing past him in the school lunchroom, finding out she received flowers from a boyfriend). Her stalker began using the Internet to gather information about her and eventually set up websites where he plotted her murder in detail. He carried out the murder according to plan, then committed suicide with the same gun. Family and friends state that neither the victim nor themselves were ever aware of his obsession with her.
SOURCE: http://www.internetcrimes.com/courses/train5.html

Before the murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer by Robert Bardo in 1989, stalking behavior was not illegal in the United States. In many countries around the world, it is still not illegal until a violent act has been committed. Ms. Schaeffer’s death resulted in California passing the first Anti-Stalking legislation in the United States in 1990. Other states soon followed, passing similar laws. At this time, the United States government did extensive research on stalking behavior eventually producing several important documents:

The Interstate Stalking Punishment and Prevention Act of 1996 punishes persons with a fine and/or imprisonment for crossing state lines "with the intent to injure or harass another person...or place that person in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury..." (18 USC § 2261A, 2261, 2262).

The Model Antistalking Code for the States.
The U.S. Federal government decided that anti-stalking legislation should be left up to the states. Because of the vague nature of some stalking behavior and the rapid rate of anti-stalking legislation being passed in the states, and possible infringements on First Amendment rights, it was decided that a model code should be created as a guideline for states to follow.
Read the model code here: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ocpa/94Guides/DomViol/appendb.htm

Two laws authorize grants for law enforcement agencies to develop programs addressing stalking and for states to improve the process for entering stalking-related data into local, state and national crime information databases such as the National Crime Information Center. (42 USC §§ 3796gg, 14031)

Another law requires a training program for judges, which trains them how to gather valuable criminal history and other information from state and federal sources. (42 USC § 14036)

The Attorney General must compile and report data to the Vice President regarding stalking, as part of the National Incident-Based Reporting System as mandated in September 1996. (42 USC § 14038)

You are strongly urged to read 1999 report from Janet Reno to Al Gore here: http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/cyberstalking.htm. This report deals specifically with cyberstalking and is important because it recognizes cyberstalking as a separate and significant problem.

The United States Federal government has done extensive research and has provided the individual states with as many resources as possible but, by United States law, stalking is to remain a state issue. All users of the Internet should familiarize themselves with their particular national, state and local laws.

US State Laws
http://www.nvc.org/law/statestk.htm

Some International Laws

Canada
Section 264 of the Criminal Code
http://www.wwlia.org/ca-stalk.htm

Ireland
Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997-Sect 10 Harassment
http://www.harassment-law.co.uk/Irish.htm

Australia
Australian Capital Territory, Crimes Act 1900 s34A
Australia has different laws for each territory:
http://www.harassment-law.co.uk/australia.htm

Scotland
Protection from Harassment Act 1997
http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1997/1997040.htm

England
Malicious Communications Act 1988 Section 1
http://www.harassment-law.co.uk/book/06.htm

The Legal Elements of Stalking
Even with the widely varying definitions and scopes of anti-stalking laws, most require that several elements must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt:

Course of Conduct: Stalking is a pattern of behaviors typically getting more violent as time goes by. Most states and many countries require two or more instances of aggressive behavior. Some states have specific Threat and Intent requirements that the behavior must fit into. A breakdown of which states require what behaviors can be found at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ocpa/94Guides/DomViol/appende.htm

Presence of Threats: Most states and countries require that the stalker act in a way that would cause a reasonable person fear. These threats do not necessarily have to be verbal or written. Such actions as sending a mutilated doll, following the victim, making threatening gestures (like forming the hand into the shape of a gun then "shooting" the victim, or the "slit your throat gesture") all qualify. Some counties and states require the stalker follow up his threats with at least one more 'Course of Conduct' behavior to show a continuing pattern before it can be deemed stalking.

Criminal Intent to cause fear: The conduct of the stalker must be "willful", "purposeful", "intentional", or "knowing". Because most stalkers are too shy to confess, “I did that to scare him or her,” the resulting fear in the victim is good enough to show intent.

HARD NUMBERS
How big is the problem? The most up-to-date, reliable figures can be found at:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/ncvrw/2001/stat_over_14.htm which is the United States Office of Justice’s website. Much speculation is done of the actual incidence of cyberstalking, as there is no good means of measuring it yet. The actual statistics are hard to verify: victims are reluctant to report the crime, and the legal definition of cyberstalking may be different in the perpetrator’s jurisdiction than the victim’s.

Victims may be reluctant to report the crime or unaware that a crime is being perpetrated against them, either because the offender is a stranger or associate, or because they aren’t aware that it is a legal matter.

Offenders may be unaware that they are breaking the law (possibly thinking that it is Free Speech); the ones that do realize it don’t care or feel they will be vindicated.