Protection from Harassment Act 1997

Podsumowanie

The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 created both criminal offences and civil remedies for harassment, including stalking. Enacted primarily in response to high-profile stalking cases, it introduced the concept of a 'course of conduct' (at least two occasions) as the threshold for both the criminal and civil regimes. The 1997 Act was significantly strengthened in 2012 when the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 inserted dedicated stalking offences (ss.2A and 4A), which criminalise a wider range of obsessive behaviour including monitoring, following, loitering near, and interfering with the property of a person. The Act provides for restraining orders — uniquely, these can be imposed both on conviction and on acquittal — and the civil injunction remedy has been used not only in personal harassment cases but also by companies against protesters. The maximum sentence for stalking involving fear of violence or serious alarm/distress (s.4A(1)(b)) is 10 years' imprisonment.

Kluczowe punkty

• Prohibition of harassment — a person must not pursue a course of conduct amounting to harassment of another which they know or ought to know amounts to harassment (s.1)
• Summary offence of harassment — course of conduct in breach of s.1; maximum 6 months' imprisonment and/or fine (s.2)
• Stalking offence (summary) — course of conduct amounting to stalking: following, monitoring, watching, interfering with property, watching or spying; maximum 51 weeks (s.2A, inserted 2012)
• Putting people in fear of violence (s.4) — course of conduct causing fear of violence on at least two occasions; either way, maximum 10 years
• Stalking involving fear of violence or serious alarm or distress (s.4A) — either way, maximum 10 years; covers cases where stalking has a substantial adverse effect on the victim's daily activities
• Civil remedy: the victim or the DPP may apply for an injunction under s.3; breach is a criminal offence; damages may be awarded for anxiety caused
• Restraining orders — court may impose on conviction (s.5) or acquittal (s.5A) where necessary to protect a person from harassment; breach is a criminal offence with maximum 5 years
• Defences — course of conduct is not harassment if pursued for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime, pursued under any enactment or rule of law, or reasonable in all the circumstances (s.1(3))

Części i sekcje

Historia nowelizacji