The Importance of Having a Specific Stalking Law

Abstract

Stalking has been recognized as a phenomenon of multiple unwanted communications intruding on an individual’s life, causing fear for his or her safety. It is a pervasive societal problem, where one in five women in Europe has experienced such violence. Also, stalking is a highly gendered crime where eight of ten stalkers are men stalking women. The high prevalence rate indicates that society must invest many resources in terms of police, social services, health care facilities, and criminal justice legal work to combat stalking. Due to a variety of difficulties with the stalking legislation, stalking is most often prosecuted as a single offense within the domestic violence legislation or as a crime of harassment. It can also be defined as a misdemeanor. However, stalking is a form of repeated offense and needs to be dealt with as such. Therefore, this chapter aims to discuss the importance of having specific stalking laws and compare the interpretation and implementation of the stalking legal framework in two European countries, Sweden and Lithuania.