Research Briefing
Stalking: Developments in the law
A Private Members' Bill with Government support aims to introduce new civil Stalking Protection Orders. The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 was introduced to deal with stalking, but critics argued that it was not effective enough. Scotland introduced a specific offence of stalking in 2010, and England and Wales created two new specific offences in 2012. Northern Ireland still relies on the more general offence of harassment.